The Thieves and the Baker
by BookWorm37
Summary: Cassie Fraiser is looking for a fresh start and things are finally calming down after Ba'al is executed. The Leverage team immediately notices there is something a little odd about the young woman with no past before 1997. There will be fluff
1. Chapter 1

Cassie swallowed back the lump in her throat as she got off the plane, amidst a throng of people she'd likely never see again, and made her way to the baggage claim. Part of her wanted to go running back to Colorado, but things wouldn't be the same there anymore. Part of her wanted to go running to D.C. but that didn't seem like home either. Nevada was straight out unless she wanted to end up a lab rat. Literally. Chicago seemed like a good alternative. At least it didn't remind her of Mom, and she'd have a chance to start her life. Again. For the third time. This time without the government's interference. Most of the time. Maybe she could start a new home here.

She followed the signs through the airport and was reminded briefly of her first trip through the maze of signs and doors and metal detectors. The part of her that was still a little girl from the planet Hanka cringed at the sight. But the presence of her new family had helped ease her mind as she said good-bye to her mother and all of their friends as she left for cooking school. Little did she know her mother would be killed off-world by a stray staff weapon blast before they could see each other again.

As she waited for the baggage carousel to start spitting out luggage from her flight, she let her mind wander to how much things had changed in the past five years since the death of her second mother. Her mind was sharply pulled back to the present when the young woman felt someone brush up against her and deftly grab onto something in her pocket. There was only one thing in that pocket and there was no way Cassie was going to let some lowlife take it.

Her hand shot out and grabbed the other woman's arm before she could completely remove her hand from Cassie's pocket. Lighting fast reflexes were thanks to long hours of practice with Janet and Teal'c and sometimes Jack and Sam. Before she had left for school they had made quite sure she was capable of defending herself, and after Janet had died, Cassie had taken to keeping in practice just for situations like this.

The vibrant blonde turned to look at the other woman with wide eyes. Before she could open her mouth to speak, the hardened alien-turned-Earthling smirked, her fingers pressing into one of the pressure points on the other woman's wrist. "Would you mind letting go of my pocket watch? I'd really hate to have to chase you in these shoes."

The other woman grinned impishly and Cassie was reminded of another thief that she had met only briefly a few times before. The thief's hand released her prize and Cassie let her go. She smirked, "I've never been caught so quickly before."

Cassie smirked back, memorizing the woman's features, "I've had practice."

"What's so great about a gold plated pocket watch anyway?" The thief asked curiously as Cassie turned to look back at the now moving baggage claim.

"It was a gift from my mother shortly before she died," she replied, unsure why she was telling a stranger so much information. Especially a stranger that was a thief. Seeing her bag being spit out onto the carousel, Cassie stepped forward and snatched it up quickly. No use telling the woman it wasn't gold plated, but gold brushed trinium that did more than tell time accurately. Very few would recognize it's worth.

"Why would you want to steal it anyway when it's not worth anything?" Cassie asked, turning around to find the odd thief walking toward a waiting group of three men and another woman. "Chicago thieves are just plain weird," she mumbled as she made her way outside to hail a cab.

Five pairs of eyes watched her less than stealthy exit, intrigued by the woman's lighting fast reflexes. After all, Parker was more than good at what she did: she was the best.

* * *

The little bakery was in fairly good condition given the decline in business recently. Apparently an increase in the crime rate of the area had made business decline and the current owner (showing Cassie through the closed shop) was not up to the task of owning a bakery in the center of a turf war going on between the local gangs. While it wasn't something Cassie was particularly fond of, either, she trusted her skills as a fighter and knew that if things got too bad, she could always call Jack or Teal'c for help. They gave her the backbone she had needed to buy the shop on sight a month before.

Today was dealing with the last of the paperwork and setting things up so Cassie could take ownership immediately of the bakery. She had been drawn to its name as well as its reputation ... but mostly its name: The Mountain. Who in the world thought that was a good idea for a bakery name she didn't know.

She turned toward the current owner, pausing in her signing of the necessary documents, "Why is it called 'The Mountain'? That seems like an odd name for a bakery."

The man chuckled at the secret joke. "When I bought it, it was 'The Valley'. Didn't think that fit either. So I changed it to 'The Bakery Between the Valley and the Mountain' but that was too long for people to remember. Then it was just 'The Mountain'." He frowned as he thought about it, "Not so funny, is it?"

Cassie grinned at him. She had an entirely different reason for liking the name, "It's a great name. But, no, not that funny."

A few minutes more and the bakery was legally and in every meaning of the word _hers_.

Now to deal with the gangs.

* * *

"I wonder who she is," Parker wondered aloud as the team lounged around their new headquarters two days later. A hockey game was on in the background and Nate and Eliot were half paying attention to it while Sophie and Parker played a game of Go Fish. Alec was watching the game intermittantly while doing god knows what on his shiny new laptop.

"Probably just another thief," Eliot mused as he took a pull from the beer in his hand. "She caught you fast enough, darlin', and you're damn good."

"No," Parker shook her head as she rearranged her cards for the start of a new game, "Got any five's?"

"Go fish," Sophie responded.

"She wasn't a thief," Parker continued. "I can tell. A hitter, maybe. But not a thief."

Eliot snorted, "If she was a hitter, than she's pretty new. If she was seasoned you wouldn't have gotten within two feet of her."

"Then who is she?" Parker asked again. "She's been trained by someone but she doesn't seem active in anything. It's unnatural."

"According to the flight manifest," Alec chimmed in, "Her name is Cassandra Fraiser. She started off in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and made her way to D.C. via southern Nevada before ending up on the same plane as you for the final stretch to Chicago. I'm looking at her financials and history now."

Eliot frowned at the news. There was one thing those three locations had in common. "She might be military."

"Naw," Alec contradicted with a shake of his head, "According to this she graduated four years ago from Le Cordon Bleu in Portland. Oh. Yeah. Orphaned at age ten and adopted a short time later. Her adoptive mom was Air Force until she died eight years ago. Stationed at the Air Force Academy and NORAD for the last seven years before her death. She was a doctor. Name was Janet Fraiser."

"No dad?" Nate asked, suddenly as curious as the rest of them.

Alec pressed some more buttoned and announced, "Dr. Fraiser was divorced and never remarried. Man, this is too weird."

"What?" Parker asked, ignoring the card game now that they had something interesting to think about.

Alec's head came up and he was wide eyed as he looked at each member of his team. "There's no record of Cassandra Fraiser having existed before Janet Fraiser adopted her in 1997."

"Witness protection?" Sophie asked, her voice soft and as curious as the others.

Alec shook his head, "It gets weirder." Locking eyes with Nate he said, "Her files and her mom's have been sanitized. I'm betting if I look into any of the other personel files from their department in NORAD I'm going to find the same thing. Whoever she is, Cassandra Fraiser grew up in some pretty deep stuff."

"And there's no record of it," Parker added needlessly.

"None that I'd hack into." His eyes took on a note of fear that none of his teammates had seen before. "It's hacker noman's land. We don't go there, and they don't track us down."

"Who's 'they'?" Eliot wondered who his seemingly fearless partner could be afraid of.

Alec's eyes held something deep inside of them that caused a shiver to run down the spine of his four teammates. "People who make the CIA look like bunnies."

* * *

General Jack O'Neill sat in his office wishing more than anything that he was at home in Colorado Springs with his wife of two years. Anything to be away from here and the damn burocrats of Washington D.C. Being head of Homeworld Security sucked almost as much as bringing down the Goa'uld had. Only now he couldn't use a gun -- or even a zat to make them shut the hell up.

The unexpected chirp from his computer drew him out of a very vivid daydream involving Sam and a can of whipped cream. He frowned as he opened the new alert and came face to face with something he had hoped would never happen: someone was running an illegal background check on Cassie Fraiser. His heart constricted slightly at the thoughts of his dead friend, but soon all emotions other than anger were pushed to the side as he followed the hacker's movements in and out of encrypted files that were supposed to be safe.

Jack started to press a few buttons and was moments away from frying the harddrive on the hacker's computer when the search stopped on its own -- two clicks away from one of the best kept secrets in the world. Jack changed his focus and pulled up a search for the hacker himself.

When he saw the face of the wanted criminal he had to smirk at the irony. Alec Hardison was infamous in the world of computers. His hacks legendary. Jack knew first hand that he was smart and didn't get into things that could bite him in the ass so hard he'd need a bag the rest of his life. He was a hacker who didn't make mistakes. Usually.

The truth was, Alec Hardison had just made the biggest mistake of his hacking career.

Reaching for the phone, Jack pressed number "3" on speed dial and waited for the man on the other end to answer.

"Jackson," a familiar voice said over the slight sound of static.

"Daniel! Good, you're in," Jack replied in a jovial tone. "What do you think about taking T and Vala to visit Cassie later this week?"

Daniel sounded pleased with the idea, "This week's no good for me, though. I have new recruits for the SGC next week. How about next week? It'll give us all enough time to make sure the world's not about to end while we're in Chicago. Not to mention we could take the week off and see how she's settling in."

That would give him enough time to make Hardison more paranoid than he's been in years. "Sounds great. She told Sam that she bought a bakery named The Mountain. Great, right? You tell T and Vala, okay? I'll tell Sam later tonight."

"What about Mitchell?" the archeologist asked curiously.

"What _about _Mitchell?" Jack replied, unsure what the other officer had to do with a spontaneous trip to Chicago.

"Jack," Daniel whined, "He's a part of the team and he might --"

"He might _what_, Daniel? Throw a fit that he wasn't invited to visit a woman he's never met before?" Jack pointed out logically. "The only reason Vala's even invited is because she's your girlfriend. This is not a team vacation. This is visiting Cassie."

Daniel seemed to just bypass the last part of Jack's statement and stuck with, "She's _not_ my girlfriend!"

"From what Teal'c tells me, she is."

Flabergasted silence met him on the other end so Jack concluded the conversation with a simple, "See you Monday, Danniel."

* * *

Eliot was taking a walk through what could only be described as some of the seedier parts of Chicago when he saw her. The girl from the airport: Cassie Fraiser. And she was talking to what looked like six gang members. From two different gangs.

Wondering if the woman was looking to get killed, Eliot made his way closer so that he could be on hand in case she needed him. Part of him wasn't really sure why he was going closer to a potential fight that had nothing to do with him, but the more human part of him that had been getting stronger in the past year with Parker and Hardison knew that if Parker knew that he had just stood by while the young woman was attacked, she'd never forgive him. Eliot _really_ didn't need Parker holding a grudge.

A few of the gang members seemed adgitated, but their leaders held them back from attacking the seemingly unarmed woman. Finally, Eliot was within hearing and listened intently to the conversation.

"Are we clear here, gentlemen? You leave my shop alone and there won't be any trouble," Cassie was clarifying with the men.

One of the underlings snorted, eying the woman like a piece of meat as he cockily asked, "What kinda trouble a little lady like you give us? Betcha can't even fight."

Eliot was too far away to see Cassie raise her eyebrow, but he could hear the subtle amusement in her voice when she said, "Did you just volunteer for a demonstration, Mikey?"

"What's the rules?" Mikey's boss asked.

"I win," Cassie said, walking in a circle around her new prey, "And you leave my shop in peace. He wins, and

The Mountain is fair game. Deal?"

"Mikey's got nuthin' to do wit us," the other leader's second put in.

The rival leader glared as he decided, "Let's see what happens. I seen Mikey fight. He's good. He wins, we win. He loses, we stay away like the lady says."

Eliot had to hold himselve back from intervining as the thug known as Mikey ran at the woman. He saw her losing the fight without the damn thing even starting. The whole thing flashed before his eyes in a moment. Until he blinked and found something he hadn't been expecting: Mikey was on his stomach, one of his arms twisted up at an awkward angle by Cassie's slim form. She had one of her heeled boots directly over Mikey's spine.

The retrieval specialist winced at the wimper he could make out from the man on the ground. He raised his eyebrow in admiration at how nicely the fight had been wrapped up.

"What's the matter, Mikey?" Cassie asked patronizingly. "Didn't realize a baker could fight, did ya?" She lifted her head and turned back to the gang leaders, her grip on Mikey's arm tightening a fraction, "A deal's a deal. See me if you need a cake and leave the illegal stuff out of my shop and off the immediate premises. Got it?"

Mikey's leader nodded, visibly shocked by the outcome, "Yeah. We got it. Deal's a deal."

The rival leader nodded once as well, "Yeah. Deal's a deal."

Cassie nodded and let go of Mikey's arm. She took a few steps back from the gang bangers. "If any of you decide to question the parameters of this deal just keep this in mind: I won't get the cops involved, but by the time I'm done with you, you'll wish I had."

Eliot faded back into the shadows as the woman passed him. He felt something in his stomach he hadn't felt in a long time. If he wasn't so hardened to the ways of the world, he might have mistaken it for longing mixed with lust. Pushing it out of his mind, he turned his thoughts to the nice redhead waiting for him at one of his apartments around town. She should be up for some fun tonight. Briefly, as he made his way to the nearby apartment building, he wondered what type of wares a shop called "The Mountain" would sell.

* * *

Cassie made her way to the apartment she had set up before her final move up to Chicago. It was small, without being cramped -- just the way the Air Force liked it when she was using her mother's death benifits to live off of until the bakery took off. She had no doubt it wouldn't take long now that the gangs were out of the way. Sam and Jack liked her apartment because it was really easy to wire for alarms and motion censors.

Part of her wanted to roll her eyes at the lengths they went to in order to protect her, but there was always that voice in the back of her head that sounded way too much like her adopted mother for her not to listen, "Cassandra Fraiser! You are an alien on this planet and there is naquadah in your blood. You _know_ what the NID would do to you if they could. Now suck it up, young lady!"

After deactivating the necessary alarms and setting the one that said "I'm home and in for the night, so scream if someone tries to open the door or a window," she checked the time on the clock, wincing when she saw that it was already ten o'clock in the evening. It wasn't that she felt that was particularly late normally ... but she had to wake up at four in the morning to get to the bakery before anyone else so that this change in ownership could go off without a hitch.

With a sigh she hung up her purse and jacket on the coat hanger Daniel had so thoughtfully contributed to her new place. It looked like it came straight out of the Smithsonian's Elizabethian England collection. Knowing Daniel it probably had.

One hand went to her now short brown curls, for a moment forgetting that she had chopped them all off three months back to donate to Locks for Love. Something about stupid drunken bets flitted through her mind, but she just sighed again as she kicked off her shoes and pushed them toward the wall.

She made her way groggily toward the kitchen, where she poured herself some orange juice to drink before hitting the sack. One hand went up to rub the back of her neck where it was just a little more than sore for some unknown reason. Her head hurt, too, come to think of it.

After finishing her juice and washing the cup, Cassie made her way to her bathroom, where she changed for bed and brushed her teeth before turning out the lights and setting up the other alarms from the panel right by her bedroom door. Quickly she sprinted across to the bed and snuggled into the massive blankets she had piled on top. Nothing could change her love of her blankets. Not even the fact that it was still a solid seventy-five degrees outside her apartment.

She turned on her alarm clock and let the sounds of the city lull her into sleep. As her eyes closed a final time, the woman watching her apartment could swear that the brown eyes glinted as they looked straight at her through the half closed blinds. But that was impossible.

* * *

A/N: So? Can you feel the set up of sexual tension? Are you cackling at how Hardison is not nearly as clever as he once thought? Should I stop now or continue writing? Do you want to see what happens when Teal'c meets Eliot?

No comment on the gangs. It was just an excuse for Eliot to watch Cassie kick some ass.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the support on the new venture. For those of you still dubious, just bear with me. I think I can get you hooked within a few chapters.

* * *

"Hey, boss?" one of Cassie's new employees approached her in the kitchen hesitantly, unsure how she would respond to the request.

Cassie looked up from the chocolate cake she was frosting and tried to recall the name of the unfamiliar woman who now worked for her. "What is it, Amanda?"

The cashier shifted her weight nervously from foot to foot. She pointed vaguely behind her at the telephone, "I just got a call from my kid's school. He threw up all over the classroom."

Her new boss nodded, cutting her off before she could continue in her plea, "Say no more. Go. You can make up the time after he's better."

Amanda heaved a sigh of relief. She smiled at the other woman, "Thank you so much. I think it's just a stomach flu. He should be fine tomorrow."

"Just go," Cassie shooed her out the door. "Help your kid get well again."

"Wow," a male voice commented from Cassie's right. She turned to look at her other employee who was working right then and raised an eyebrow at the ex-con expectantly. His lanky frame was covered in tattoos Cassie didn't want to know the origin of as he looked at her with a hard look on his mulatto skin. "This place ain't never been no picnic to work. Da ol' guy would never let her go after her son like dat." He shook his head ruefully as he got back to forming the bagels he was making. His head shot up again a few seconds later, "Whose gonna run da front?"

Cassie smiled tensely, not liking what she had been hearing all morning about the previous owner. She set down the frosting spatula back in the bowl. "Think you can finish up here, Jason?"

"I ain't never frosted no cake before," he replied dubiously as he mechanically formed the dough in his hands.

"You were watchin' me, right? Just try to make it look smooth and even. Like paving a driveway," Cassie replied, washing her hands off quickly before heading out to the front of the shop. "Only if you mess up, all you gotta do is smooth it out again. I'll show you how to add on the details once Chris gets here."

Without waiting for the darker man to reply, Cassie took off her apron and made her way to see what kind of business she was dealing with at nine o'clock in the morning.

Jason just shook his head as the door swung closed behind her. He smiled slightly as he continued to shape the small mounds of dough before him, "I'll be. Da crazy bitch gonna teach me how da frost a cake. Da ol' guy never taught me nuthin' 'bout no cakes. Jus' roll da bagels and make da bread. Won't Kelly be proud o' me when I make her birthday cake dis year? Dat li'l girl never had nuthin' good from me. We gotta change dat, Jason. We will. Make her proud of her daddy."

* * *

"Oooh! Donuts!" Parker bounced with joy as she saw the sugary goodness in the shop that Eliot had taken Hardison and her to.

Hardison looked at the display in open adoration. All of the baked goods looked so ... well, _good_ that he was having trouble deciding which ones he actually wanted to buy. For a moment he forgot why Eliot had brought them to this out of the way bakery called "The Mountain" and how odd he found the name. The cacophony of smells was doing strange things to his head. They were all so good ...

The counter was unmanned as they walked in, but that soon changed as a woman walked out from the back. She smiled pleasantly when she saw them in the near empty shop. "Can I help you?" she asked, her eyes taking in the three as her smile failed to falter.

Eliot looked at her and couldn't help but notice how much more beautiful she looked in the daylight. He coughed into his hand as Parker finally realized it was their turn in line. She turned her wide eyes to the woman and almost choked on her own tongue as she realized who it was.

"Hello, again," Cassie said as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on. "What can I get you?"

Parker tilted her head to one side, trying to figure out if the woman was serious. Finally deciding to go with her gut, the thief replied, "All the chocolate donuts."

At the serious tone, Cassie's smile did crack into a true grin. "That it?" as she looked the other two men over. "No coffee after staying up and following unsuspecting women through town like stalkers?" she asked innocently.

Eliot felt himself smirk against his better judgement. Of course she would know he had been there. "What else is someone supposed to do when said unsuspecting woman is walking alone in a very dangerous part of town? Couldn't very well have you getting mugged."

Cassie chuckled at that as she started boxing up the twenty-four chocolate donuts still in the display case. "I can take care of myself, thanks." Her head tilted to one side, "Although right now I'm feeling a bit off. You guys seem to know quite a bit about me -- including my name. Care to share yours?"

Parker held her hand out, "Regina Howard. Pleasure to meet you, Cassie Fraiser."

Eliot nodded once toward the woman as she shook "Regina's" hand, "Eric Smith. This here is Patrick Lance."

Cassie raised her eyebrows, "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to bite the hand that feeds you? Let's revise that to don't lie to the woman you're buying food from."

Parker grinned, "I like you. Name's Parker." She motioned with her head toward the other two men, "That's Eliot and Hardison. He thinks you're cute, that's why he can't talk right now."

Hardison glared at the little blonde thief as he blushed crimson on his dark skin.

Cassie smiled again, this time with a more honest amusement that before, "Nice to meet you, Parker. Anything else I can get you?"

The thief thought about that seriously for a moment before she asked, "Can you make specialty cakes?"

The chef nodded once, grabbing a form from behind her that she had run off the day before. "Just fill it out. What kind of cake do you want?"

Parker's eyes glinted with a hint of the insanity that lurked beneath the surface, "One that looks like a big pile of money. With mint chocolate chip cake on the inside and buttercream frosting."

Cassie filled out the parts of the form that she could before turning it to Parker, "Just fill out the rest and I'll make you a cake that looks so much like a pile of money you'll have to look twice before you realize it's a cake."

"You can do that?" Eliot asked at the same time as Parker and Hardison.

Cassie just gave them all a smirk that dared them to argue with her skills. "Will that be all today?"

Hardison looked at the reduced selection of pastries and added, "Half a dozen bear claws and half a dozen onion bagels, please."

The young woman -- Eliot pegged her being no more than 25 years old -- didn't seemed phased at all by their order and quickly got everything set into three boxes.

"The total's going to be $30.50, including a deposit on the cake. Considering it's my first order, I should have it done by Tuesday," Cassie relayed to them from the cash register. Eliot handed her twenty five dollars and put the change in the tip jar that sat on the counter.

"Thank you," Parker said with a wide grin on her face as she took the two boxes of chocolate donuts in her arms.

"No problem," Cassie replied. They turned to leave but she called out to them, "Oh, and Mr. Hardison?"

Alec turned his head at her voice, unsure he wanted to stay and find out what she was going to tell him.

"The next time you want to know something about me, try asking me instead of looking it up."

Eliot snorted as the trio left. None of them particularly wanted to know how she knew about the illegal search. However, they all had their theories.

* * *

Cassie got Sam's call about fifteen minutes after she left the shop for lunch. She knew damn well that the people on her payroll were good, honest workers despite their somewhat shady pasts. They could handle the shop for a while so she could eat something not made from flour and shortening. Not to mention she'd been there since 4:15 that morning and it was now nearing 1:00. At the very least she had to get out of the damn place so it didn't start to consume her life.

"How would you feel about all of us coming up to visit you next week?" Sam asked through the phone, her voice sounding excited at the prospect of seeing how Cassie was settling in.

The younger woman grinned at the prospect, "Are you bringing Vala with you?"

"Of course. She's been really eager to see more of the U.S. and I think she might cry if we didn't bring her with us."

Cassie chuckled at that, "I guess that's true. When should I expect you all?"

"Monday afternoon. Around 15:00 hours, but you know how airplanes can be."

"Don't I ever. Hey, do you want me to make you guys a cake?" Cassie walked into an Italian style restaurant and waited in the line for the hostess to get to her.

Sam sounded dubious, "Like the one you made for that off-world celebration when Jack and I got married?"

Cassie grinned at the memory of the double cakes: replicas of the Asgard ships The O'Neill and The Samantha Carter. "Nothing quite that ... in depth, Sam," Cassie assured her. "I was actually just thinking of the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy and the Scarecrow skipping down the yellow brick road with Toto by their sides and some rain falling on the Wicked Witch."

Sam outright laughed at the idea. "Sound great, Cas. Maybe you can fit in a little baby Scarecrow in there somewhere. See you Monday."

"See you Monday." She ended the call with a smile as she put her phone back in her purse. It wasn't until her hands completely dropped the phone that she realized exactly what Sam had said at the end. Her eyes went wide and her mouth opened in an "Oh" of shock as she realized that Sam had just told her that she was pregnant. A wide grin broke out on her face as she debated calling her back to squeal in delight over the news.

"Who are you seeing on Monday?" a man asked from her side, leaning in a little bit so it was clear whom he was talking to. She wasn't very surprised to see Eliot standing there, waiting next to her in line and nixed the idea of calling Sam back just then.

Cassie smirked, in too good a mood to let someone with apparent boundary issues ruin it. "Some friends from Colorado. They're coming for a visit."

Eliot nodded, motioning his head toward the decreasing line. "Wanna eat together? It'd save some time."

She bit her lip, unsure she liked the idea of the unknown man eating with her ... but he wasn't Goa'uld or some sort of unmarked Jaffa, and he wasn't the type to be working for the NID or the Trust. From the information Jack had sent her on him, it would be relatively safe. And he was, after all, treating her more like a woman that he was interested in rather than a possible meal ticket. Not entirely in control of her own actions, Cassie nodded acceptance to his invitation, still on cloud nine from Sam's news.

"On one condition," she added at his self-satisfied smirk. He tilted his head curiously as she asked, "What's your real last name?"

Eliot's smirk changed to one that was approving of her candor. "Spencer," he replied as the hostess came back to her post and asked if they had a reservation.

"Reservation for two under Ford. Nathan Ford," Eliot replied with a smile as the woman found the reservation and took them to a booth that gave them a great view of the door and the rest of the room.

Cassie took a sip of the water in front of her after their waitress came to take their drink order. "What'd Mr. Ford do to piss you off? Or is that just another one of your names?"

Eliot smiled and Cassie decided that she liked his smile ... and his southern drawl. "Ford's my boss. Made the reservation for me after the last job we did. As a 'thank you.'"

"Must've done quite a job," Cassie replied. She was about to say something else when their waitress returned with their drinks and took their food order.

Eliot's grin was a note too feral as the waitress walked away. "I'm very good at what I do."

Her eyes were honest and true as she looked back at him, "I know. Hardison must be very good at what he does, too. Otherwise he wouldn't have looked nearly that frightened when you all walked into the shop this morning."

The retrieval specialist frowned, unsure how she was making the connections she was. "What do you mean?" he asked, not wanting to give anything away.

Cassie took out her cell phone and played with it for a moment before answering, "I was alerted when he first opened the search on me."

"Why? How?" Computers were never Eliot's thing, but this sounded a little paranoid to him.

"I can tell you 'why' but the 'how' is way beyond my computer abilities," Cassie replied with a slight smirk.

"Glad to know I'm not the only one who finds 'em confusin'."

Cassie smiled sadly this time as she looked down at her cellphone. "Part of it is paranoia. I have some friends in very high places that want to keep me safe without stifling me. They want to watch over me while still letting me ... spread my wings, if you will."

Her lunch companion could understand that. There was nothing more important to him than keeping his loved ones safe. Knowing that they would be safe is what helped him keep control. It helped him take the punishment. "And the other part?"

She looked up at him with a hard look in her hazel eyes that he knew well. Her jaw was set firmly as she said, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't watching."

"How do you know I'm not one of them?" he prodded, finding himself curious and drawn into something that could quite probably end badly. For both of them.

Her face broke out of its gloom and doom attitude as her eyes twinkled at him. A smirk played on her lips as she said, "Because if you were one of them, Sam would have been on a plane last night and whisked me back to Colorado or Nevada. Jack would have told me." She shrugged as she thought about it, "And you'd probably be in a coma or dead by now."

He raised his eyebrows, "You sound mighty sure of your protectors there, darlin'."

She truly smiled then as she put her cell back in her purse and twirled her half full glass of ice water. "There are so few things in life we can be sure of. Teal'c is one of mine."

"Teal'c?" Of course he couldn't help but find the name a tad amusing. "What's that mean, anyway?"

"It means 'strength' in his native tongue," Cassie replied quite truthfully. Of course she didn't bother to mention that his native tongue was an alien language that she knew quite well from her childhood on Hanka. There were some things he just didn't need to know yet. "I dare you to tease him about it to his face."

"Judging by the gleeful look in your eye, I'm going to have to pass." He thought over what she had just said and asked a different question, "Was that just an invitation to meet your friends from Colorado?"

Cassie grinned, not having planned that course of action, but liking the flirtatious banter too much to put a stop to it. "Perhaps. If you're as good a cook as you are at evading capture."

Eliot couldn't help the grin that encompassed his face. "You're on. Tomorrow night I'll pick you up from the bakery and show you what a good chef's really all about."

* * *

Eliot banged his head against the wall when he got back to the office after a very stimulating lunch with Cassie Fraiser. She knew things about him that she shouldn't know. She hadn't said anything to insinuate that she was afraid of him in any way, but she knew. God damn it. She _knew_.

"What's eatin' you, man?" Hardison asked as he walked into Eliot's office after hearing the noise.

The hitter growled at him before moving to the punching bag they had installed the previous week for him to use. "What do you know about the business this Fraiser chick grew up with? Who is it puttin' the lock on her files?"

Hardison's eyes went wide as he realized what Eliot was asking him to tell him. "Naw, man. You don't wanna be drawn into that shit."

Eliot hit the punching bag so hard that the canvas bag split in two where the force of his hand hit. His brown eyes turned a deadly glare on the hacker as he said, "Pretend for a moment that I do, Hardison. Tell me _what the fuck_ this chick is in to!"

"What happened, man?" Hardison asked as he took a step back closer to the door.

Eliot's glare intensified as he punched the punching hanging bag again, causing a puff of dust to shoot out into the air. "Nothin' _happened_, Hardison. Just tell me what the hell kind of shit she's involved in!"

Hardison didn't know what to do other than tell Eliot what he wanted to know. "Have you ever heard of the Stargate Program?" his voice broke a little as he said the name of the top secret military organization that he shouldn't even know existed.

Eliot frowned at that, his anger being replaced a little by confusion and curiosity, "The what?"

"The Stargate Program," Hardison repeated, stepping one step forward. "Or Stargate Command. It's a top secret military program. There are theories about what they do but no one knows for sure." His eyes flickered in fear toward the window. "But you hear things, man. Of people getting too close. Disappearing."

Eliot stood up straight and stepped back from his punching bag. "U.S. military?" he asked without expecting a response. "What is she then? A superhuman? A weapon?"

Hardison gave him a look that clearly said he was overlooking the obvious, "What kind of superhuman would she be if they're letting her run a _bakery_ for a living?"

"Maybe she's going to take over the world one chocolate donut at a time," Parker said as she came up to them, munching on one of her chocolate snacks. "These are good."

Eliot scowled again as he crossed his arms and leaned against his usually unused desk.

"What's got your nickers in a twist, Eliot?" Sophie asked as she walked into his office, clearly intending to see what all the fuss was about. In her hand was another one of the pastries that the other three had purchased that morning from Cassie's shop.

"He likes Cassie Fraiser," Parker said simply. She held up what was left of her donut, "I do too. She makes good chocolate donuts -- and she let me buy _all_ of them."

Eliot wanted to beat something up, "I do _not_ like her, Parker. I'm just wondering why I'm the only one worried about how much she knows about us."

"What do you mean?" Sophie asked, not having been there when Cassie had called Hardison on the search he ran on her.

"She practically told me that she knows what I do, god damn it!" Eliot raged as he started to pace in front of his desk. "And now Hardison's spouting off about something called the Stargate Program but he won't tell me anything about it!"

"I stole something for them once," Parker piped in after finishing her donut. She looked between the three pairs of shocked eyes and shrugged, "What? They needed something back and I was right there. They paid really well for it, too."

"What'd you get?" Sophie asked, her eyes curious.

Parker grinned back at her before sauntering out of the room. "It's a secret."

Eliot just growled again and went to go occupy his time in the kitchen. Might as well practice for tomorrow.

* * *

A/N: So? Can you smell the brewing romance? The chocolate donuts? The inevidable sparring match? The freakin' awesome cake Cassie gets to make?


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: A little pre new episode of Leverage treat for all of my lovely reviewers.

* * *

Cassie left the shop that afternoon so exhausted that she didn't even think about going to the gym to work out. What sort of moron decided that a bakery should be open from five in the morning until six in the afternoon? It was suicidal for someone to do all that work on their own. Luckily Jason knew some of the tricks of the trade -- at the very least he could made the breads and bagels the shop sold, and he had a keen eye. In no time at all Cassie was sure he would be working as a full time pastry chef ... even if he didn't have the formal training.

Regardless, she needed someone else to ease the load off her own shoulders. A good pastry chef who could step right in and start whipping up everything from shaped cookies to lobster claws to eclairs and cakes. Right now, though, all she wanted was someone else to share the load with. Maybe one of her friends from culinary school would be interested.

She flopped down on her sofa and browsed through the contact list on her cellphone. Someone had to be available and close to Chicago. Didn't they? Maybe she could convince one of them to move. She got down to the "K's" by the time her phone rang, disrupting her search for a partner.

Looking at the screen, hope rose in her chest. It was Tesa -- her college roommate.

"Hey, Tesa," Cassie greeted happily.

The sounds of sniffling and sobs responded to her, "Things are horrible, Cassie! Just terrible!"

"What happened?" she asked as concern replaced her momentary happiness at talking to her friend.

"The restaurant just closed down for good, Cas." Her words were coming in gasps through her sobs as she said, "Mark knew and he didn't tell me. What am I gonna do?"

Cassie felt sad and joyful at the same time. It was always sad when restaurants went under -- especially when the head chef was her dear friend. "Weren't you staying above the restaurant?"

"Yeah," Tesa sobbed, "Now I've got nowhere. I have to be out by tomorrow. I can't believe Mark kept this from me. God, I am such an idiot! I thought he was gonna propose or something with how strange he's been acting lately."

The baker frowned, knowing that she needed to take charge before Tesa had a mental breakdown from the stress, "Okay, Tes, I need you to calm down. Pack your bags of whatever you can't live without. We can buy you new clothes and books when you get here. Just pack the irreplaceable stuff and get over to the airport. I'll get you a flight out here and you can stay with me until you find a place of your own."

Tesa gasped on the other end, "Are you sure you have room, Cassie? Do you even want me there? Can you even afford to fly me out?"

She snorted, "I already need another chef I can trust not to ruin things out here, Tes. Don't worry about the money. Just get your ass in gear and I'll call you as soon as I know what airline you're flying out of. Say good-bye to Houston and it's fickle customers, my friend."

"Are you sure you're not my guardian angel, Cassie?"

The other woman just smiled with tears filling her eyes. She had to whisper so as not to give away her emotional instability, "I'm not from heaven, Tesa. I just know you'd do the same for me. It's the right thing to do."

A whispered response of, "Thank you, Cassie," was followed quickly by the click and dial tone that signified the end of the call.

With a sigh Cassie pulled out her laptop, unsure if she could still book a flight for that very night. Regardless, she had to check. Tesa needed her to.

* * *

Most Thursday nights were spent at home with books, knives, and food for Eliot Spencer, not sitting in one of his lesser used cars watching a figure move around a third story apartment. Of course, most Thursday nights didn't accompany a day in which Eliot Spencer found out that his past is not as secret as it should be. Most Thursday nights he didn't have to contemplate how to approach this new kind of woman.

In his experience there were generally three types of women that he encountered: those that knew who he was because they were a member of the same trade; those that wanted to believe he was a bouncer for some seedy club; and those that knew what he did and despised the killer in him for doing it. There was no fourth type of woman. All of them either feared or hated him once they found out what he did -- often both.

But not Cassie. She seemed completely at ease around him and he couldn't understand it. So what she was raised with secrets? She was obviously taught how to fight and handle herself by a master -- quite possibly more than one. When her brown hazel eyes met his at the restaurant, she was looking at him with respect untainted by the fear that he could use his skills to hurt her. Even Nate feared him on some level.

The enigma known as Cassandra Fraiser intrigued him. She not only didn't fear him, but when she spoke of her friends she got this look in her eye that said, "You may be the best, but they could teach you a few things." And she didn't judge him for having done the things his life had dictated he do. No, she had smiled like she understood and let it lie as that. His stomach did strange things when he thought about her and her lack of fear and judgement. Strange things he hadn't felt before -- even with Aimee.

He watched as she exited her apartment, turning all but one light off as she went. Eliot looked down at the dashboard and wasn't too surprised to find out he'd been sitting there thinking for almost three hours.

Cassie came out of the doorman protected building and checked for traffic in the late evening before rushing across the street -- right toward Eliot's car. He wasn't sure if he should leave or not, but when she leaned down next to the driver's seat window, he was out of time to bale without looking like a complete ass.

Obligingly, Eliot rolled down the window half-way. "Can I help you, ma'am?" he asked formally, testing her reaction to his sudden burst of manners.

She smirked as she replied in like manner, "I don't know, cowboy. You feel like givin' me a ride to the airport?"

He put on his best charm as he unlocked the door behind him. He decided in that moment that if she could look at him without fear, without judgement, and definitely without many of the fighting skills that he had, then he at least could trust her not to kill him in a moving vehicle.

"I reckon I can do that," he slowly drawled as she buckled her seatbelt and he pulled out into the street. "I thought you said your friends weren't coming until Monday?"

Cassie grinned in his rearview mirror as she watched the buildings pass by, "DIfferent friend." Her eyes flickered to catch his in the reflection before turning back to the window, "Care to share why you were parked outside my place for so long?"

"And here I thought I was being discreet," Eliot said, tsking in disappointment at himself.

"Oh, you were," Cassie assured him, "But I started to get a little concerned when I saw the car and it didn't move. Next time bring that big truck of yours so that I know it's you watching my place. You're lucky the security camera pointed to the street has such a high resolution otherwise I might have done something we'd both regret."

He raised his eyebrows at her assurances, "Sounds like you have that building locked down tight."

Her sigh was half of longing as she replied, "Sometimes when you overcompensate for safety you're able to sleep at night."

They rode in silence as Eliot steadily drove toward the airport. Once it was in site he asked, "What airline do we need to get to?"

"United," Cassie replied, "Terminal Five, I think."

"You think?" he prodded, unsure how she could be so positive in her trust of him, yet unsure of a terminal number.

"I'm sure," Cassie clarified. "She's coming in at Terminal Five."

"She?" Eliot asked, wanting to know more about this woman sitting in his back seat that he had become chauffeur to at a whim.

"Tesa," Cassie replied, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. He had to smile slightly at the sight that reminded him so much of Parker. "She was my college roommate."

"What's she doing in Chicago?"

"Oh, she's going to help me at the bakery." Cassie was a bundle of energy as he pulled into the parking garage and found a spot quickly. "The restaurant she was working at just went under and she needed a place to stay. Chicago's as good a place as any."

"You're a good friend to have," Eliot replied as they made their way into the airport.

Cassie turned and grinned at him before motioning for him to follow her over to baggage claim. "Her flight should be landing now."

A short time later, as the pair waited next to the baggage carrousel that would soon start spitting out luggage from Tesa's flight, the woman in question appeared with a squeal.

Eliot raised an eyebrow, wondering if Parker had a sister or a cousin somewhere he should know about as Cassie was practically tackled to the ground by a woman no taller than five feet with hair dyed to a vibrant shade of flame red. If Parker was twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag, then this woman most certainly was twenty pounds of trouble.

"Tesa!" Cassie squealed happily as she tried to disentangle her friend from herself.

The shorter woman allowed herself to be removed from her roommate's body with a smile, "It's been way too long, Cas." Her eyes flickered to the man standing next to Cassie and looking at her like she was going to start singing show tunes loudly and off key at any moment. Tesa's face fell and as quickly as she had appeared on the scene, she started to cry.

"Oh, sweetie," Cassie said, gathering her friend up in a hug that reminded Eliot of how Aimee used to hug her sister. "What is it?"

Tesa buried her tightly shut blue eyes into Cassie's shoulder as she explained, "His hair!"

Eliot's brow furrowed as he reacted to her words. "What the hell is wrong with my hair?" he demanded as one of his hands went up to feel the loose locks.

"Nothing!" Tesa sobbed into Cassie's shoulder. "It looks like Mark's!"

Cassie's eyes widened at that announcement and she rubbed her friend's back soothingly as she tried to calm her down so they didn't attract too much attention, "I didn't realize Mark grew his hair out."

Tesa nodded into Cassie's shoulder before pulling away, her sobs having subsided into a quiet flow of tears. "I should have cut it all off before getting on the plane. Bastard deserves it."

Cassie firmly took Tesa's chin in her hand, turning her head gently so that their eyes met. "Eliot is not Mark, Tesa." She smirked as she added, "His hair is _far_ prettier."

Eliot looked at the now giggling women in shock as he tried to school his features. It didn't matter if she did think his hair was pretty. For all he knew this "Mark" had the hair of an ape. Probably took minimal care of it, too. Every muscle in his upper body was aware of itself as he reached behind him to pull his hair into a ponytail as the baggage claim started to spin and the luggage from Tesa's flight came forth.

"Okay, which one's yours?" he asked, getting ready to grab her bags when they came off the line.

Tesa motioned with her head, "The hard cased brown luggage with the barcode on the side."

Eliot raised his eyebrow again as he spotted the dark brown suitcase with a barcode painted across one side. He turned to look at Tesa curiously, "Really?"

She rolled her eyes at him, "You were expecting a cupcake?"

"Yes, actually, I was," Eliot retorted before moving forward to lift the suitcase in his arms. He hefted it up and wanted to say something snarky about the unexpected weight of the thing, but all he could come up with was, "What'd you do? Stuff all your cast iron skillets in here?"

Tesa grinned, "No," she shook her head once as the trio began to walk toward the exit, "Just the pretty ones. The rest of the stuff in there is mostly books I couldn't bear to part with."

Eliot swore under his breath. The bag had to weigh at least seventy pounds. Not exactly something he enjoyed carrying in such a cumbersome shape.

* * *

Cassie was leading the way through the apartment building for Eliot and Tesa when she felt what Jack had dubbed "disturbance in the Force" when she was fifteen. She stopped just short of her apartment and frowned, trying to feel where the naquadah was coming from.

It had taken her some years to get the skill down, but if she cleared her mind the way she did with Teal'c, she could usually isolate where it was coming from. At the very least she could get a direction, which tended to help when running away from fights.

"What is it, Cassie?" Tesa asked, remembering many times Cassie had stopped and acted just as oddly when they were roommates in college.

"Someone's in my apartment," she whispered, her eyes opening and turning to look at the other two with her. She knew from Eliot's reaction that there was a note of fear in her gaze that told him a fight was almost sure to ensue. "Two someone's if I'm right."

Tesa backed into the wall, knowing Cassie wouldn't want, nor need her help if a fight ensued. Eliot put down the suitcase carefully, quietly, before reaching into his boot and pulling out one of the sharpest knives Tesa had ever seen outside or inside the kitchen.

Cassie was approaching the door, key in one hand while the other one held something that looked like a ninja throwing star. She was about to open the door when it was yanked open from the inside to reveal a dark skinned, muscular man on a cell phone.

"I have located Cassandra Fraiser, Colonel Carter. All appears to be well," he said in a deep rumbling voice to the woman on the phone.

Eliot was on edge as Cassie relaxed, putting the star away with a flick of her wrist as she sighed at the scary looking man with a streak of white running through his midnight hair.

"Don't scare me like that, Teal'c!" Cassie groused as the man ended the call he was on.

Teal'c raised a solitary eyebrow on his stoney face as he replied, "Indeed. One could say the same thing of you, Cassandra Fraiser. General O'Neill was most put out at the thought of you in enemy hands."

Cassie rolled her eyes, "I'll apologize to him later. Right now all I really want to do is go inside and work out sleeping arrangements for Tesa. Can you grab her bag, T, please? Eliot was having a little trouble with it. Who'd you bring with you anyway?"

"Vala Mal Doran accompanied me," Teal'c replied as he stepped out into the hallway to retrieve the luggage.

The man in question shot her a glare as Teal'c easily lifted the heavy object in his arms before taking it into Cassie's apartment, followed by a now at ease Tesa. "I can see I'm not needed here," Eliot told Cassie, "So I'm just gonna go."

"Not so fast, cowboy," Cassie told him before he could back away more than a step. She pointed a finger at him and said, "You're part of the reason they're here so you get to stay and help explain things." She shrugged at Eliot's glare, "Besides, you _wanted_ to meet them."

"Yeah," Eliot groused, following Cassie into her apartment with little hesitation, "When they were coming on _Tuesday_ not tonight."

Cassie rolled her eyes at him as she leaned in to whisper in his ear, "I know this must be weird for you, Eliot. I mean, we just met. But go with me on this. Teal'c can smell a lie, and he wouldn't have any qualms about showing you exactly how much experience he has in fights if you pushed him to it." She leaned back and led him into the living room where Teal'c and Tesa were standing, "Besides, it'll give you a chance to show me your mad skills in the kitchen."

Eliot opened his mouth to protest but he was cut off when a head poked out from Cassie's bedroom. The brunette had the same look in her eyes that Parker had, only hers was added to by the pigtails that captured her hair in a childlike manner. She grinned when she saw Cassie, "Ah, there you are, Cassie. I _told_ Muscles that you weren't kidnapped, but nobody would listen to me about it. Did I hear you say something about food?" She looked at the others in the living room, as if finally noticing that she was not alone with Cassie and Teal'c. "Oh, hello Tesa. I love the hair."

Tesa brought a hand up self-consciously to her newly reddened locks. She smiled at the older woman, "Thanks, Vala. I like it, too."

The intergalactic thief's eyes turned to the man trying to sink into the wall behind Cassie, "And who is this, Cassie? He looks like a smaller version of Muscles."

"Vala!" Cassie admonished. "This is Eliot. He's a friend of mine. That means hands off."

Eliot looked between Cassie, Vala, and Teal'c. He wondered briefly if it would even be worth the energy to run.

The older woman visibly deflated as she finally came all the way into the living room, revealing a basic outfit consisting of bootcut jeans, brown leather fashion boots and a pink t-shirt. "You're no fun, Cassie. Now did you say something about food or not?" Her eyes lit up again, "Oohh! I know! Let's order a pizza!"

"Nothing beats a homemade pizza when it's done right," Eliot stated, causing all eyes to turn to him again. He motioned with his head toward where he assumed the kitchen was, "May I?" he asked Cassie politely.

"By all means, cowboy," Cassie said with a smirk, "Let us witness your mad culinary skills."

Eliot mumbled something under his breath as he walked into the kitchen. With an exasperated sigh he yelled into the living room a few minutes later, "Don't you have an apron a little less frilly?"

"Only the one that says 'Kiss the Chef, Screw the Food' on it," Cassie replied cheekily.

The others could hear Eliot mumble something that sounded like a curse as a few pots banged around in the kitchen. Apparently he didn't care so much for Cassie's sense of humor.

* * *

A/N: Review. You know you wanna. Oh, and for those of you hiding out in the story alert section and not leaving reviews, please bear this in mind: I get cranky when people do that ... and my muse tends to go on vacation if too many people do that. I don't write for the reviews, but they do_ help_ me write and that's why I keep posting stories up here. Just a thought.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Wow. That whole asking for reviews thing really paid off. Thanks so much for indulging me.

* * *

Eliot was finishing putting the slices of mushrooms on the second pizza he was making and his mind kept on wondering again how he ended up where he was. He didn't trust easily at all, and yet there was something about Cassie that made him trust her implicitly ... with some things. He _wanted_ to spend time with her. A lot of time. He wanted to protect her.

As he stuck the pizzas in the preheated oven he thought about how long it had taken to foster that same feeling in him for his team. Sure, he'd gotten into some pretty bad fights those first few jobs they did, but it wasn't until Nate was in rehab for the con and Hardison was almost blown to bits that he realized that he'd protect them all with his life if necessary. Cassie was already in that category in his mind and heart ... and he'd spent less than two days with her. Talk about screwed up.

Who the hell let a virtual _stranger_ make pizza in their kitchen? Sure, he knew some stuff about her from those files Hardison had hacked into, and she knew some stuff about him from wherever the hell she got that information. But it still wasn't the same.

He heard a slight noise in the doorway and looked up to see the man -- Teal'c standing there impassively with his hands behind his back and a bucket hat firmly in place on his head. Eliot turned back to where he was washing the knives, cutting board, bowl and grater, not knowing what to say or even if the other man would answer.

The soapy water ran over his hands as he scrubbed at the remnants of cheese on the hand held grater. They were always such a bother to clean with so many grooves for things to get stuck on.

"Cassandra Fraiser has a way of promoting fierce loyalty in those close to her," Teal'c finally broke the silence as the grater was placed on the drain tray.

Eliot's eyes remained on the dishes in front of him as he scrubbed. "I've noticed," he grunted.

A blink of the eye later and Teal'c was suddenly right next to Eliot, causing the shorter man to change his grip on the knife he was currently washing with lightning fast reflexes. He took a step away from the sink and held the knife before him in a defensive motion. Teal'c raised an eyebrow as he spoke again, "You have the marks of a good warrior about you. However that will not stop me from tearing your body apart muscle by muscle if you harm Cassandra Fraiser in any way."

Eliot tilted his head slightly as he relaxed and went back to washing the dishes. He didn't doubt one bit that Teal'c could and would carry out his threat. "I wouldn't expect it to."

"General O'Neill tells me that you are a warrior of great skill and ability," Teal'c continued. Eliot was a little surprised by the sudden compliment when not a moment before the man was threatening his life. The larger man walked a few steps away and Eliot started to wonder at his use of the word 'warrior.' His speech was too formal for him to have been American born. "He did not mention that you were also a master of the culinary arts."

Eliot shrugged one shoulder as he put the knife in the flatware container on the drain tray. "Gotta have a hobby when you're not workin', my mama always said."

Teal'c's eyebrow rose again, as if of its own accord, "Indeed."

It was then that the two men heard an indignant shout from the other room. "Vala Mal Doran you did _not_ just say that!" Cassie cried in a huff.

This was followed by the laughter of the other two women. "You've gotta admit, Cassie," Tesa said through her laughter, "She has a point."

"No," Cassie argued in an overly loud voice. Eliot wondered who she was trying to convince with her tone. "No point. _None_. Her statement is completely point_less_."

Now it was Vala's turn to speak up through her laughter, "I think you're protesting just a tad too much, Cassie. It wasn't like the idea's farfetched or anything."

"It's that you _said_ it in the first place." Cassie could be heard moving around in the living room and followed up her comment with another one said too low for either of the eavesdropping men to hear.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow again as a smirk pulled at Eliot's mouth. What he wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall in that room.

"Hey, Teal'c?" Cassie asked from the doorway to the kitchen.

The Jaffa turned to look at Cassie with one eyebrow raised in silent question.

"Will you tell Vala that Gambit is better than Wolverine, please? She doesn't believe me," Cassie pouted like a little girl.

Eliot snorted quietly at the revelation that the girls were arguing about X-Men characters.

Cassie sent him a half-hearted glare, "It's not funny, Eliot. Gambit is way cooler than Wolverine."

"You're comparing apples and oranges," he said, breezing through the rest of the dishes in the sink. "Gambit was made to be a bad guy and Wolverine is the bad guy turned good. In the end, though, they're both just mutants trying to find their way in a world that hates them." He was definitely _not_ thinking about how that related to his own team's mission to help the powerless. They were not the X-Men. Nope. No way.

The brunette pouted and turned to Teal'c, "What's your vote?"

Teal'c looked pensive for a moment before replying, "I believe Rogue is the most compelling mutant character on the X-Men team."

Cassie sighed as she shook her head at him, "You've been hanging out with Jack too much."

"Indeed," he replied with a slight smirk, "I believe General O'Neill's favorite character to be Banshee."

Cassie crossed her arms, reminding Eliot of how his sister looked when she pouted as a child. "You're no fun." Her gaze turned again to Eliot and she silently asked him his opinion.

As he opened the oven to check the pizza, which was now sporting nice bubbling cheese on top and a golden crust, Eliot commented, "I was always partial to Archangel, myself. My sister liked Storm, though."

Cassie's pout turned into a genuine smile as her arms fell to her sides, "I didn't know you had a sister."

Eliot gave her a funny look, "Didn't you read my file?" he asked, knowing full well that she had and Teal'c probably had as well.

She shook her head, "Just the highlights. It didn't say anything about your personal life, just some of the jobs you pulled off. Like Croatia."

Eliot tensed slightly at the mention of his work in Croatia. He shook his head slightly as he searched for a pizza cutter, "That wasn't a job."

"It is the battles we choose to fight that impact us the most," Teal'c said sagely before moving to get down a set of plates from the cabinet. "Do you have any carbonated beverages Cassandra Fraiser?"

Her smile turned into a smirk again as she moved toward the fridge, "Yeah. There's cola, lemon-lime, orange, and root beer. Which one would you like, T?"

"I would greatly enjoy some lemon-lime, Cassandra Fraiser," Teal'c said with a smile as he carried the plates into the living room ahead of Eliot and the piping hot pizza.

Eliot stopped in the doorway, beside Cassie, who was grabbing a few cans of soda from the fridge. "What exactly do you know about me?" he asked, his brow furrowed and his heart unsure he wanted to really know.

Cassie stood up to her full height, just an inch below Eliot's as she formulated her response. Her hazel eyes found his blue ones as she replied, "Only about as much as someone looking for your services would know. Jack sent me a short list of some of the things you've done and people you've helped." Her eyes dropped to the pizza as she added, "You probably know just as much about me from that stupid search Hardison did."

"I know something about you that wasn't in those search results -- meager as they were. You're favorite X-Men is Gambit. That says a lot about a person," he smiled softly as she looked up at him again, trying to reassure her that he wasn't mad about anything, nor was he trying to pick a fight. He motioned his head toward the bottles on the top shelf of the fridge, "Grab me a beer, will ya?"

She smirked as she turned back to the beverages, "Coors or Sam Adams?"

"I know I saw a Stella in there. You can't trick me." He walked into the living room to the wonderful sound of Cassie laughing.

* * *

"I just don't understand it," Vala said around a bite of the heavenly pizza Eliot had cooked up.

"What's to understand?" Tesa asked, motioning wildly with the hand not holding her own slice. "It just _is_."

"Yes, but the lasers don't actually do very much to stop thieves from stealing, now do they?" Vala pointed out. "All they do is weed out the ones that aren't very flexible."

Cassie rolled her eyes, "It's just a _movie_, Vala. You can't expect Mission Impossible to be that realistic. I mean, it has a self destructing tape telling him where his next job is."

Vala huffed as she sat back in her seat. She was about to continue her tirade against lasers when movement caught her attention in the corner of her eye. Her head turned toward the balcony attached to Cassie's apartment and she frowned. "There's a woman standing on your balcony, Cassie."

Everyone turned toward the window and Eliot growled when a flash of blonde hair sped across his vision. "Parker," he grumbled as he got up and went to unlock the sliding glass door.

"What the hell are you doing out there?" he asked as he felt Cassie come up behind him, having waved away Teal'c and Vala.

The thief shrugged once as she dropped from the drain she had been holding on to. "Her air vents are too small for me to climb through. How _else_ was I supposed to check on you?"

"Who told you to check up on me?" Eliot asked, his brow furrowed tightly as he processed the information that one of his teammates was a little less trusting or a little more paranoid than he had originally thought.

Parker looked back at him cooly, "Hardison wanted to make sure you weren't kidnapped by some secret government organization for going out to lunch with Cassie." She turned to the other woman, "Hi, Cassie. Got any more chocolate donuts on you?"

Cassie smiled genuinely at the thief, "Hi, Parker. Sorry, no donuts at home. But I can offer you some freshly made pizza that Eliot put together."

Parker's eyes widened with glee as Cassie led her into the living room, completely ignoring the irate Eliot. "Everyone, this is Parker. She works with Eliot. Parker, this is my new roommate, Tesa, a friend from college. One of my adopted uncles, Teal'c, and my other adopted uncle's girlfriend, Vala."

The two thieves eyed each other for a moment before breaking into identical grins that sent a chill down the spines of all who saw it. Parker held out her hand to Vala, "Nice to meet you. Cassie said there was pizza?"

"Pleasure's all mine," Vala said, motioning for Parker to sit beside her, "We were just discussing the futility of lasers in stopping theft."

Parker snatched up a piece of the delicious smelling pizza and started to munch on it as she thought about the issue at hand. "Well, when there's a row of them and they're too close together to move through, it could, I guess, but not really. I find they only make me act more flexible."

"Parker!" Eliot admonished, unsure she should be telling such things to strangers.

"What?" Parker asked with her trademark wide eyes. She pointed to Vala, "She's a thief like me, Eliot." Her finger pointed in turn to Teal'c, "He didn't get those muscles from the gym _and_ he already knows." She shrugged once, "Besides, Cassie already knows, too. The only wild card is Tesa and if she's living here. If she's living here with Cassie, what's the harm?"

Eliot's eyes narrowed at her, "You're too trusting, Parker."

"And you're a stick in the mud," she retorted around a bite of pizza.

Before the conversation could escalate to a full blown argument, Vala jumped up and exclaimed, "Cake! Who wants cake?"

Cassie frowned up at the thief, "I have cake?"

Vala nodded with a grin, "I went out to buy it after we checked over the apartment. It's a 'We're happy you're not kidnapped' cake." She moved into the kitchen and came back a short time later with a very good looking three layered German chocolate cake. Another quick trip to the kitchen produced clean plates and forks.

Cassie frowned again in confusion, "What would you have called it if I _had_ been kidnapped?"

Vala shrugged, "Nothing. Muscles would have been so depressed that we would have eaten the whole thing before Sam and Daniel got here with the troops."

Her eyes widened slightly at that announcement even as she accepted her very generous portion of cake.

Tesa clapped her hands together as she took her own plate. "Let's watch a movie."

Cassie groaned at the squeals of delight that came from Parker and Vala at the suggestion. She banged her head on the coffee table as she moaned, "I have to actually _wake up_ in the morning, Tesa!"

Tesa playfully glared at Cassie, "You're a party pooper. It's only eleven o'clock."

"And I've been awake since four this morning -- working," Cassie dry-panned back to her. "While I know I can go a day without sleep and still function, it doesn't mean I want to."

The redhead thought over her options for a moment while Eliot got more and more uncomfortable with the situation. At long last Tesa replied to Cassie's statement, "Can we watch a movie if I wake up at four and do the pre-opening baking and stuff? I'm sure I can handle it with how you prepare, Cas."

After a tense moment Cassie nodded in acceptance to Tesa's plan.

"_High Noon_ would be a most enjoyable film for such an occasion," Teal'c put in his opinion in such a way that Cassie automatically moved over to her DVD collection to find the Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly classic.

"What's that?" Parker asked as she alternated between a bite of pizza and a bite of cake.

"It's an old western with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly," Eliot explained to the culturally deprived Parker as Tesa looked at her with an odd look.

"It's all right, Parker," Vala said cheerily with a pointed look at Tesa, "I didn't know what _Die Hard_ was until last week when Muscles made us watch it at team night. I didn't know who Gary Cooper was until Daniel and Mitchell had a rather extensive argument about whether he was better than John Wayne."

"John Wayne's better," Eliot said authoritatively. Vala gave Tesa a secretive look that Eliot wasn't sure he wanted to know the meaning of.

Cassie shook her head, "Gary Cooper kicks ass."

"Five words," Eliot responded, holding up a hand to illustrate the point, "_How The West Was Won_."

Cassie couldn't help but point out the obvious retort as she put the DVD into the player and powered everything up. "Dude, _High Noon_." She shrugged as she hit the play button, "Besides, Gary Cooper gets Grace Kelly."

Teal'c smiled slightly at Cassie's defense of Gary Cooper. "Indeed."

* * *

Less than halfway through the classic film, Cassie looked over to where Vala, Tesa, and Parker had sprawled out in front of the sofa. Tesa was curled up in a tight ball, sleeping soundly between the two thieves. Vala and Parker were both watching the screen with identical looks of interest and anticipation. Eliot was sitting on one side of the couch and Cassie was on the other while Teal'c sat in the massive arm chair he had contributed to Cassie's living room set when she had moved into her first apartment.

It was late for anyone who held a nine-to-five job and Cassie could feel her eyes droop sleepily even as she knew it would be hours still before sleep would claim her. She looked over at Eliot and found him looking at her with something resembling confusion. If it had been almost anyone else looking at her like that, she would have called them on it with a harsh words. Considering who it was, though, she thought Teal'c's method of staring at him silently would work better. He'd explain as soon as he was comfortable enough to do so ... or when he was so uncomfortable that he couldn't help but explain to get her to stop looking at him.

As they stared at each other, Cassie felt something ripple inside her, near the vicinity of her heart. Okay, so it was actually much lower than her heart. It was actually near her liver, but that's not the point. Eliot had the most expressive blue eyes she'd ever seen. Whenever Jack talked about how Sam's eyes told him things she was too afraid to voice, Cassie had never really believed him. Now she wasn't so sure.

After who knows how long (the train bearing the bad guy in the movie was approaching the town quickly and Grace Kelly had started to throw another silent fit about the situation), Eliot motioned slightly with his head for Cassie to follow him into the kitchen before getting up and taking a few of the plates with him.

Cassie followed suit, picking up empty glasses and dirty plates in an attempt to clean up a little before everyone left. Teal'c gave her a small nod as she brushed past him, letting her silently know that he was not opposed to the plan that was forming her mind.

When she walked into the kitchen Eliot was filling the sink full of dishes with warm water and adding some soap. "Do you have magic or some shit like that?" he asked quietly when she was a few feet away from him.

She was taken aback by the question but tried not to let him see how much it phased her. "Why would you say that? I don't understand."

He turned of the faucet before turning around to face her. His arms crossed protectively over his chest as he said, "I'm not a complicated person, Cassie. I've been burned so many times in the past that I don't trust people easily -- especially when I don't know them. You're a wild card." One hand went up to run through his hair nervously, "And for some unknown reason none of that matters when I'm with you."

With a deep breath she put the dishes down on the island in the middle of her kitchen before she responded without looking up at him. "You think I don't feel it, too?" she swallowed nervously as her eyes flickered up to his before turning to the floor so she could get through what she was about to say. "Things happened to me, Eliot. Horrible things that shouldn't happen to anyone, and I can count on one hand all the people I trust beyond a shadow of a doubt. Because they didn't leave me even when they thought I was about to explode."

Part of her hoped he took that statement figuratively, but when it came to Eliot's understanding, there was also a part that hoped he'd find out what she really meant by that. SG-1 had stayed with her, even with Nirrti's bomb inside of her, primed to explode. Sam hadn't left her to die alone.

She hesitated before lifting her head to look at the thief again. "This _thing_ that's happening between us scares me. A lot, Eliot. I can't hide that when I'm with you, I don't want you to leave. When you saw me fighting last night ... I was more confident knowing you were there. I spent every minute I was at the bakery hoping that you'd walk in. And you did."

Tears pricked at her eyes and she tried to push them back, along with the torrent of emotion that accompanied them. She shook her head as she took one small step toward Eliot, "I'm not asking for commitment right now, Eliot. That would be silly. ... I just want to be able to talk to someone who isn't out to use me and who doesn't feel like they owe me anything. Someone who won't judge me."

He frowned as he considered her words. "What about Teal'c and Vala and the rest of them?" he finally asked, unsure why they would feel like they owed her.

She shook her head again, trying to put what happened in words that would not compromise "national security" and the integrity of the Stargate Program. "Teal'c and the rest of them feel responsible for how my family died. They're not, but they feel like they are. Tesa has spent the past five years trying to make up for yelling at me the day Janet died. The only reason we're even friends is because General Hammond thought she would make a good roommate for me in college."

That brought up another question he wanted to ask, "Why didn't you join the military when you graduated high school? Seems like you were headed that way with your family life and whatnot."

Her smile was bittersweet as she simply put things, "Because the one job I would have wanted was impossible for me to take."

"Okay," he nodded, accepting her answer as he moved to pick up the dirty dishes at her side. "You want someone you can trust. I do to. It's a rare thing for someone like me."

He turned back to the sink, depositing the dishes in the soapy water before resting his hands on the edge of the basin. Cassie came up next to him hesitantly, placing one of her hands next to his. Close enough that one of their pinkies could reach out and touch the other, but still not touching. "You're not a bad man, Eliot," she whispered. "We all have to do bad things sometimes."

Blue eyes turned to her and searched her face for any sign of insincerity before he whispered, "And what have you done that's so bad?"

The bittersweet smile returned to her face. "I'll tell you someday," she said, trying to keep the tears at bay.

"But not today," he added needlessly.

"No," she shook her head once, "Not today. Today it's enough that you trust me to stand behind you."

He smirked slightly, "And that you let me cook unsupervised in your kitchen."

Her smile turned more sweet than bitter, "Thanks for doing the dishes earlier."

"I don't like leaving messes," he replied, turning back to the sink full of dirty dishes as the sound of gunshots and yelling came from the television in the other room. "I wash, you dry?"

"Sounds like a plan, Cowboy," Cassie replied, picking up a dish towel and moving to his other side so she could more easily put the clean dishes away.

* * *

A/N: TADA!!!! If you review, you might get another chapter by Tuesday.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: ... If you've read any of my other stories before while I'm writing them, then you know how utterly hopeless I am at sticking to a schedule. I had planned on posting this two weeks ago, but that kind of fell through. RL took control and I lost all writing capabilities I had for a while. I was also going to upload this yesterday, but FF wouldn't let me. So ... here ya go!

* * *

Teal'c kept a watchful eye over the slumbering women after Parker and Eliot left a short while after the movie was finished and Gary Cooper rode off into the sunset with Grace Kelly.

He wasn't surprised hen he had opened the door hours before to find Cassie in the company of the known criminal. O'Neill had sent him the complete file on one Eliot Spencer and Teal'c couldn't help but feel some level of respect for the much younger Tau'ri warrior. He had helped many helpless people through the years, despite some of his more distasteful jobs. After reading the file, he had asked Colonel Carter what she knew of Croatia's war for independence and what she knew of the man known as the Croatian Crippler. It wasn't a shock to find that Eliot Spencer had contributed so much toward the freedom of the innocent people who lived there.

O'Neill had been irate at best when he had spoken to Teal'c on Thursday afternoon. "Why the hell do criminals flock toward her? It's not like she has a Bat Beacon inside her or something!" the general had groused.

"Cassandra Fraiser is a very capable young woman, O'Neill," Teal'c had replied in his grave monotone. "I do not believe that any of these people with whom she is now acquainted will harm her."

"Yeah," O'Neill had replied. "I still want you to take Vala up there and check it out first hand."

"Very well, O'Neill."

And now he was sitting in a very comfortable recliner, dozing as he listened to the sounds of the city around them. One of the benefits he found from being Jaffa was that he became an extremely light sleeper after his symbiote had been removed. No one else would be sneaking in the apartment that night.

---

Tesa groaned as someone shook her awake. "Wh's't?" she mumbled sleepily as she tried to shake them off.

"It is now 4:00 in the morning, Tesa Parker," Teal'c's deep monotone seemed to vibrate through her skin. "Cassandra Fraiser says it is time to wake up."

Tesa grumbled under her breath to express her general displeasure with the world as she pushed her eyes open with a scowl.

"This stinks," she groused as she sat up on her makeshift bed on the living room floor.

Cassie let out a laugh from where she was standing by the couch with two cups of steaming hot coffee in her hands. "I guess you don't want _this_, then, do you?" she said, waving one of the cups of coffee at Tesa's sleepy face. "Shame. I even put cream and one sugar in it, too."

Tesa's eyes widened as she practically leapt toward Cassie and the delicious smelling coffee. "I thought you'd still be asleep," Tesa said after she had a few gulps of coffee in her.

"Nightmare," Cassie explained succinctly without expounding. "I figured I could help with the shop so you don't feel like a fish out of water."

"Good morning, all!" Vala said cheerily as she bounded out of the bathroom with her usual happy-go-lucky attitude. "Sleep well?"

Tesa glared at her as she curled herself up on the sofa with her coffee mug. "Why are you so _chipper_?" she insulted the intergalactic thief.

Vala grinned at the Tau'ri woman as she said, "I spent the last two weeks in D.C. with Muscles here. Still on Eastern Time."

The redhead raised her head to look at Teal'c with her sleepy gaze, "She's always like this early in the morning?"

Teal'c nodded slightly, "Indeed."

After a few minutes of silence in which Tesa attempted to wake up and drink her coffee, Cassie turned her head to her new roommate and calmly said, "You've got half an hour before we have to be at the shop."

"Shit."

---

Alec Hardison woke up that Friday morning to the ringing of the cell phone he used for some personal friends he had that knew very little (if anything) about his work.

His hand went out to the cell phone, answering the call as he brought it to his ear groggily, "Do you have any idea what _time_ it is?"

The voice on the other end sounded amused, "Obviously just a few hours after you went to sleep, Freeze."

Alec was immediately awake after that statement as he recognized the voice on the other end. "No one's called me that since high school."

"And yet that's what I called you," the woman said flippantly on the other end.

Hardison sighed and rolled his eyes as he sat up in bed, "What'd ya want, Sam? You did _not_ call me up at," he looked at his alarm clock, "Seven o'clock on a Friday morning just to bring up old times."

"You're right, I didn't," she replied, her voice turning serious as Hardison heard the sound of keys clicking on a computer. "What are you doing in Chicago, Alec? Last I heard you were in Boston."

"Last I heard," he countered, "You weren't workin' with hackers anymore. _Colonel_." He stressed her title, hoping the not-so-subtle hint about information flow would work.

"Ouch. That's harsh, Hardison. You're lucky I can't have you arrested for being mean to me. Oh, wait. I can." Despite her half-serious tone, Hardison knew she'd do what she had to in order to get her job done. "Now, why are you in Chicago?"

He shook his head as he got up and made his way steadily through the small(ish) apartment toward the refrigerator. "What's it to you, Sam? Lookin' up old friends out of the blue?"

"I have ... certain interests in Chicago that alerted me to your presence," she responded vaguely.

Alec raised his eyebrows as he took a small bottle of orange soda out of the fridge and unscrewed it with one hand. "Would these interests happened to be named Cassandra Fraiser and her well being?"

She cleared her throat on the other end, "Possibly."

"I'm here on business, Sam."

"Someone deplete your States' side bank accounts?"

"Someone else's, actually. Con artist." He took a long drink of his soda as he waited for her to respond.

"Aren't you a con artist, Alec?" her tone could have been mistaken for confused, but he was pretty sure Sam Carter knew what she was asking. He just didn't know what she was getting at.

"So? I'm a hacker first, baby."

"I'm not sure my husband would want to hear you call me that, Alec," her response was a little too jovial to be safe for Alec's health, so he wisely didn't comment as he waited for her to continue.

It took some time, but after a pregnant silence, Sam got to the core of the issue, "Someone hacked my system yesterday afternoon."

Alec's face went white at the news, "The system I helped you make un-hackable? _That_ system?"

"One in the same," she replied. "That's not the worst of it."

"Oh, don't tell me! You don't know who it is?" This was just great. What a perfect way to end the week.

"See, now here's the thing. I have a list of who it could be," Sam sounded only half sure about what she was saying, her bravado not fooling her high school friend. "But half of these people are dead and most of the others are off the grid. There's only a handful of people who could pull this off. But I know who's pulling the strings."

"And what am I supposed to do about it?" Alec asked, now very pissed off that someone had broken past all the firewalls and barriers he had spend weeks setting up. Weeks of work that someone else had gone through like a warm knife through butter ... well, hopefully not _that_ easily.

"I can't get to Chicago until Monday. Keep an eye on Cassie for me. Make sure she's safe."

The seriousness in Sam's tone made Alec momentarily forget his anger. "Don't worry, Sam. She's got some smart people around her."

"Yeah, but can they fight?" she worried aloud.

He let out a smirk as he thought about the hitter on the team, "One of 'em helped liberate Croatia."

---

It was noon by the time Parker managed to convince Nate that the team should go together to the bakery for lunch and snacks. She apparently really wanted to see what progress had been made toward her Money Cake, as she had been calling it, and eating at the bakery just seemed to be the next logical step.

"I must admit, Nate, that I'm quite eager to meet this woman," Sophie commented as the team approached the bakery in one of Nate's many cars.

"Why's that, Sophie?" Nate asked as he glanced at the woman in the passenger seat as if wondering what her motives might be.

"Well, think about it," she said, ignoring the three people in the back, "Parker is giddy at the chance to spend more time with her, Hardison is afraid that something might happen to her, and Eliot's practically enamored with the girl! She sounds utterly fascinating."

"Hey! Mind your own business," Eliot groused from the back seat.

"I would, Eliot, but yours is so much more entertaining," Sophie shot back with a wicked looking smile as Nate parked the car in the lot behind the bakery.

"Be nice, children. We don't want a scene, do we?" Nate reminded them as the group got out and walked toward the small bakery that was buzzing with business.

Standing behind the counter in the small bakery was a rather intimidating looking black man that caused Sophie's mouth to water. Mentally, she assessed whether or not Eliot could take him and came to the conclusion that it would be close as she watched the man move with untold grace as he filled the orders and took the cash offered to him. Adding to the appeal of the stranger was the bandana tied around his forehead, giving the hint of something she couldn't quite name.

"Cassandra Fraiser," the big man called loudly into the back room as he finished with the last customer in line before the group of five. He looked over the group of five and the appearance of some sort of inner aggravation came over him as the muffled reply was heard from the back room. "Your assistance is required."

The swinging door to the back of the shop opened and the woman in question came out with a smile on her warm face. "What is it, T?" She glanced at the other side of the counter and saw group causing the aggravation. "Oh," her smile increased as realization dawned in her eyes. "Hello. You must be Sophie Deveroux," she said assuredly to the brunette standing at the forefront of the group. Turning slightly to the older man next to her she added, "And Nate Ford, right?"

Sophie smiled back at the other woman, unsure at what was silently going on, but deciding to go along with it. "Of course, Ms. Fraiser. It's a pleasure to meet you," she said as she held out her hand.

Cassie shook it with a strong grip that was more than a little intimidating to the grifter. "Pleasure's all mine. And please, call me Cassie." She released her hand and asked the group at large, "What can we get for you?"

"Can I have cake?" Parker asked in her usual jumpy manner.

"Real food first, Parker," Eliot said gruffly as the thief tried to push her way to the front of the group but was halted by Eliot's firm grip on her arm.

Parker looked grumpy as she was kept stationary between Eliot and Hardison. "But I can have cake after, right?"

"I don't know how you can eat that stuff all the time, Parker," Hardison said as he eyed his teammate. "Where d'ya put it?"

Parker gave him a sidelong look as she mumbled, "I have a high metabolism, Hardison. That and working out three hours a day tends to keep you fit."

Cassie coughed into her hand in an attempt to hide her humor before she asked, "How about some chicken pot pie? I just made some up using my own special recipe. You're sure to love it, Parker."

Parker looked to Nate for permission and with a sigh the ex-insurance investigator gave in. "Alright," he said, getting out a credit card from his wallet, "Four chicken pot pies and one salad for Sophie --"

"Actually, Nate," Sophie interrupted him with a smile. "I think I want to try this chicken pot pie."

"Alright then," Cassie said with a nod, "There's a table to your left by the wall that should give you a good vantage of the rest of the room -- and all the exits."

"Are there any other items you wish to purchase at this time?" T asked the group from his place by the cash register. Cassie gave him a nod of approval as the group thought about the request.

"I still want a cake," Parker mumbled to Eliot, who rolled his eyes.

"And that red velvet cake in the display, Teal'c," Eliot added with a smirk as Nate gave him a look.

"Very well," Teal'c replied, ringing up the purchased and accepting the card from Nate to pay for it. "Do you require a copy of the receipt of sale, Nathan Ford?"

The other man shook his head, "No, no, I'm good."

Sophie wondered what sort of name Teal'c was as the group accepted coffee and water cups from Cassie, "There's a stand over there by your table with coffee, and I'll bring a pitcher of water over in a minute."

"Thanks, Cassie," Eliot said with a nod as the group made their way over to the indicated table.

"I'll be out with the pie and the water in a minute," she replied with her own smile.

Sophie's knowing eyes watched the interaction carefully as the baker's gaze stayed on the hitter for a moment too long before she looked away and turned back to the kitchen to get their food. Apparently Eliot wasn't the only one with a thing.

---

"Is there something wrong with it?" Parker asked as she looked oddly at the chicken pot pie that sat in front of each of the team members. Sophie, Nate, and Hardison were each looking at the food on their plates as if it was growing mold as Eliot simply started eating in a very regimented fashion.

"No," Eliot said as he scooped up another bite of the pie. "Nothing's wrong with it."

"There's _pineapple_ in here next to peas," Hardison said with a look of disgust. "How's a brotha suppos' ta eat somethin' like that?"

"Same as ya eat anythin' else," Eliot said. "Just try it, Hardison. Might surprise yourself."

"But it smells so strange," Sophie complained as she poked her own meal with her fork.

Nate took a sip of his coffee, surprised at how good it tasted, before he made something of a show of picking up his own fork. "The thing about trying new foods, you two," he said authoritatively as he was wont to do, "Is to just get over whatever's holding you back. And, sort of plunge in."

He scooped up a bite of the pie and raised it hesitantly to his mouth. Eliot stopped eating to watch him along with the rest of the team as he bit into the sweet and savory dish. His palate was alive with the different flavors that assaulted him and blended together to create something that would be too hard to describe.

After swallowing, Nate pointed his fork at Hardison and Sophie on the other side of the table, "You're turn."

Hardison scowled at the food on his plate as if it was mocking him. "It's just food, Hardison," Eliot teased him, taking another bite of the pie as the hacker hesitantly piled some onto his fork.

"Says you," the darker man replied as he brought his fork up to his mouth and sniffed again to make sure it didn't contain something poisonous. "You sure this is safe?"

"Come on, Hardison," Parker said, causing all eyes to turn to her plate which was half gone. "It's good."

His hand shook as it made its way to his slightly open mouth. The sudden change in expression on his face was almost comical. "This shit is _good_," he said around a second bite of homemade pie. "How'd she do this?"

"Skill, Hardison," Eliot replied as he took a sip of coffee. "It's all skill."

"And one helluva recipe," Parker added, finishing off her pie and cutting off a big slice of the red velvet cake that sat in the center of the table.

* * *

A/N: Sorry it's short. I figured you'd appreciate the update more than you would waiting a few more days for a longer chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb ... Oops. Sorry about that. Wrong tone, I guess. Here's the next part ... semi-on time.

* * *

Cassie looked up as Teal'c came into the kitchen, her hands ceaselessly working the green dye into the fondant. "Amanda, go man the front, please," she ordered as politely as possible as the other woman came in from her smoke break.

"Sure thing, boss," the young mother replied as she put her apron back on and made her way through the swinging door toward the front.

Tesa was in the far corner of the kitchen, showing Jason some helpful techniques for decorating cakes. She looked up at Cassie's somewhat irritated look and thought it best that there wasn't an audience for whatever was about to happen. "Jason, there's a big delivery that needs to be taken to the hospital over on 5th Street. I could sure use your help."

Jason's head whipped up to look at her in shock. Deliveries? What kind of ladies was he dealing with here? "Give me a minute," he said with a nod as he put the recently finished cake in the refrigerator, along with the rest of the unused frosting.

Vala was sitting next to the sink, her hands busy searching through a pile of cherries for a special order cake. She looked up at the others in the room and knowingly went back to weeding through the pile of cherries for those perfect enough to decorate the top.

Tesa sent Cassie a nod as Jason and she left with the three big boxes full of pastries for the nurses and doctors at the hospital. There were some things she knew it was just better if she didn't know about. Two years ago she had learned that lesson about Cassie the hard way.

After the two had gone, leaving the three extraterrestrials alone in the kitchen, Cassie continued to pound out some of her aggression into the fondant in silence.

"What's wrong, Cassie?" the black haired woman asked without looking up from the pile of cherries.

"You tell me, Vala," the younger woman replied as she added a drop of brown to the dye to get the necessary color for Parker's money cake. She worked the dye into the softened dough quickly as she added, "Either one of you care to tell me what exactly's going on here?"

"I do not know to what you are referring," Teal'c responded as he stood a few feet inside the kitchen, behind where Cassie was working.

"Like hell you don't, Teal'c," Cassie spat out as she threw the fondant into a plastic bag and sealed it tightly. She turned angrily toward the man who had been an uncle to her after her family had died. Her hazel eyes flashed with untold emotion as she pointed to him, "There is no way in hell that you show up with Vala thinking that I'd been kidnapped less than an hour after I left with Eliot. Especially _after_ Jack ran a background check on him."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow as he inclined his head slightly toward the irate female. "Yesterday afternoon Colonel Carter discovered a breach in base security. Vala Mal Doran and myself were sent to ensure your safety, Cassandra Fraiser."

"From _what_?" Cassie demanded again. She glanced at Vala before turning back to Teal'c. "Need I remind you both that secrets are the reason that I was almost _killed_ two years ago?"

Vala sighed and looked up from the cherries, "Someone stole the files on what Daniel called the Nirrti incident." Cassie's sharp intake of breath at the mention of the incident made Vala pause but not stop, "And the files dealing with Khalek. Really it was all the files having to do with the genetic manipulation of humans to create a hok'taur."

"Not the least of which has to deal with me," Cassie concluded with a sigh of resignation.

"General O'Neill is under the impression that those responsible for the theft will attempt to kidnap you," Teal'c added. "He has asked that we watch over you until the rest of them are able to arrive on Monday."

"And that deal included helping me in the shop?" Cassie asked after another moment of silence.

Vala shrugged, "I did it myself for two weeks at Sol's. I'd rather not get rusty."

* * *

A few hours later found a crew members of Leverage Consulting were found back at their Chicago offices discussing the trip back to Boston. It wasn't something that Hardison or Eliot was exactly keen on doing, but Nate seemed to be insistent.

"_My_ jobs, remember?" he reminded his teammates. "We can't let personal feelings get in the way of helping people who come to us and who need us. The Boston Free Clinic needs us."

Hardison shook his head adamantly, "Not yet, Nate. We can't leave yet."

Sophie frowned at him as Nate questioned, "Why not, Hardison? If we stay, Cassie's friends show up and we all get caught. Is that what you want?"

"We won't get caught," Hardison said determinedly, his eyes and the jut of his jawline showing his faith in those four words.

"He's right, Nate," Eliot pipped in from where he sat on a breakfast stool. "If they wanted us caught and off the streets, we would be."

Nate turned on the hitter with a glare, "How do you know that, Eliot? Do you even know who the hell it is we're dealing with?"

"The Air Force," he replied. The hitter's blue eyes bored into Nate's brown eyes as he added, "Cassie's fighting style has distinctive AF special ops qualities about it." He shrugged slightly, "Mixed in with some Asian fighting techniques, as well, and a few things I'd have to examine more closely to identify."

Parker's head came up as she frowned at the others, "When did you see her fight?"

Eliot looked down, having forgotten for a moment that he hadn't shared that bit of information with his team yet. He looked up again at Parker's inquisitive face, "The day you tried to steal her pocket watch."

Parker grinned at the memory, "That was fun. But she lied to me." The thief frowned as she continued, "That watch is too heavy to be silver plated. It wasn't even the right weight to be stainless steel. Too light and too heavy at the same time."

"Can we please get back to the issue at hand?" Nate snapped at them as he started to pace back and forth across the room. "We need to get back to Boston and help these people."

"On Tuesday," Hardison supplied. "I ain't leavin' Chicago until then."

"Why not?" Nate asked, trying desperately to understand why _his_ team was suddenly not following his directives.

Hardison let a steely look enter the gaze he leveled on Nate. "I made a promise."

"To whom?" Sophie asked, a frown creasing her brow for a moment before she remembered herself and smoothed her face again.

"An old friend," Alec replied, turning to Sophie briefly before looking down at the food he hadn't really been eating. "You could say I owe her one."

"Don't tell me," Nate nearly spat as he started pacing again, "She wants you to keep an eye on Miss Fraiser?"

Alec shook his head, "Puttin' it like that makes her sound like a job or somethin', man. I'm just suppos' ta keep my eye on her until someone else gets here on Monday."

"Then why aren't we leaving until Tuesday?" Nate asked in confusion.

"Dude!" Hardison exclaimed, "I haven't seen 'er in almost ten years. I ain't leavin' the same day she gets here."

"Did you two have a thing?" Eliot asked the hacker with a smirk playing at his lips.

Hardison turned bright red at the insinuation, his silence causing much laughter from his teammates.

* * *

"Why aren't you afraid?"

The question seemed to come out of nowhere as far as Cassie was concerned as she made dinner later that day. She looked up and found Vala watching her curiously.

"What?" Cassie asked as she methodically sliced the zucchini for the lasagna she was making. "Why should I be afraid?"

Vala picked up one of the knives from the block and started playing with it as she said, "We just told you that someone wants to kidnap you and possibly study your body chemistry. Why aren't you afraid of that?"

The younger woman looked up at Vala as she set down her knife and moved the zucchini to the side and picked up a red onion. "The only thing to fear is fear itself, Vala."

Vala's brow furrowed, "Didn't someone famous on this planet say that?"

Cassie's lips twitched up in a smile at how little of history Vala knew about the planet she now called home. "Yeah. Someone famous said it. But that doesn't mean it's not true."

"Sure, but they've never been tortured by a Goa'uld with a sarcophagus."

There was nothing Cassie could say in response, so she just continued dicing the onion that was going into her sauce. It wasn't a dish she normally made when she was by herself, but she knew that Teal'c had a particular fondness for the cheesy meal, so for him she put in the extra effort to pull it off. It didn't take too long for Vala to continue her diatribe against Cassie's apparent stupidity.

"If they get you, do you know what they'll do to you? Even if they _don't_ have a sarcophagus --"

"The pain inflicted by a pain stick alone will make me want to tell them whatever it is they want to know just so the pain will stop," Cassie completed for her without looking up. "And even after you tell them what they want to know, the most you can hope for is a quick death from which you don't return." Cassie's eyes were hard as she looked up at the other woman, "This isn't my first time at this particular picnic."

Vala's brow furrowed again, this time in a more amusing if the situation hadn't been so serious. "I wasn't aware we were talking about picnics."

"It's a metaphor," Cassie said tensely. "It's not my first time facing this threat, Vala." Something painful and distant passed through Cassie's eyes briefly, leading Vala to wonder just what she wasn't saying.

Luckily, it was Teal'c's arrival in the kitchen that stopped the conversation from continuing further. He stood with his hands behind his back as he gazed serenely on the scene in front of him. "Do you require assistance, Cassie Fraiser?"

"Sure, Teal'c," Cassie said with a smile. She motioned with her hand to where a pile of chopped vegetables sat on the counter, waiting to join their brothers and sisters in the simmering pot of tomato paste and water. "Can you add these to the sauce and make sure it doesn't burn?"

"Indeed," Teal'c said as he went to wash his hands off before handling the raw food. "Are we expecting Eliot Spencer and his teammates for dinner?"

Cassie startled a little at the question, causing Vala to smile mischievously. "Why would you think that, Teal'c?" Cassie asked, her voice just a tad higher pitched than normal and a rosy tint appearing on her cheeks.

Teal'c's right eyebrow rose as he responded, "There is enough food in preparation here to feed, as O'Neill would say, an army."

The young woman shrugged as she smoothly slid the onion into the pot Teal'c was faithfully and meticulously stirring. "Better safe than sorry, Mom always said."

"Indeed."

As our story would have it, thirty minutes later there was a buzzing at the intercom letting Cassie know that she had a visitor. Five visitors to be in fact. The brunette even had a fruit basket to give to their lovely hostess.

* * *

Sam busily typed away on her computer, trying to finish up the preliminary report she was writing about something that no one really wants me to go into as it would be far too technical and brainy for anyone but a theoretical astrophysicist (such as Colonel Samantha Carter) to understand. I believe it had something to do with magnets.

There was nothing more she wanted in the world than to finish what she was doing and meet her husband in Chicago for an impromptu trip to see Cassie. At least, that had been the original plan, anyway. After it was discovered that there was quite possibly another attempt in progress to kidnap the beloved young woman, Sam only wanted to get to Chicago to make sure that she was all right.

The last time the Trust had kidnapped Cassie, the SGC had nearly lost her. It tore Sam up inside, even now, to remember the heartache and pain she had seen in Jack's face every second Cassie Fraiser had been missing. She had no doubt in her mind that it probably reminded him far too much of how he had lost his only son, Charlie, and how close they had previously come to losing Cassie. It was luck and providence that had allowed them to rescue the poor girl only a few hours after she had been taken.

Well, luck and the tracking technology that allowed them to focus on any concentration of naquadah on Earth. At last, something good from one of Nirrti's experiments.

"Hey, Sam, you almost done?" someone asked from the doorway to her lab as he knocked on the metal frame.

She looked up and saw her long time co-worker and friend, Dr. Daniel Jackson, standing there. With a weak attempt at a smile Sam replied, "Just about, Daniel. I'm wrapping it up now and then all I have to do is email it to Dr. Lee and print off a copy for the General so we can get started on this thing."

"So five minutes then?" Daniel clarified a bit impatiently. "SG-2 and SG-5 are almost ready to go."

Sam nodded as she finished typing and saved her ever so important file to five different places, sending it in an email to Dr. Seymour Bill Lee, all before hitting the print button. "I'll just need two."

The archeologist noticed her frenzied state as she waited rather impatiently for the printer to finish spitting out the document. "Worried about Cassie?"

"Yeah," Sam nodded as she bound the papers in an official looking folder. "Don't get me wrong -- I know she can handle herself, and she has a lot of good people around her. Teal'c will keep her safe. I know he will. But ..."

"That doesn't stop you from worrying," Daniel finished for her as the two headed out of the lab.

She nodded wordlessly as tears pricked at her eyes. Damn pregnancy hormones. "And I can't help her, either." Her free hand went to settle over her stomach, where her long awaited child was growing inside her.

Daniel patted her arm thoughtfully as he tried to cheer her up, "You are helping her, Sam. Just because your pregnant doesn't mean you're useless."

She gave him a watery smile as the pair stepped into the elevator, "Thanks, Daniel, but we both know that you and Teal'c and Jack are doing more for Cassie than I can right now."

"We can't protect her forever," Daniel replied sagely as the elevator slowly made its assent to the level that held the General's office. "Sooner or later she has to stand for herself."

"Daniel, I'm not trying to shelter her from all the evil that's out there," Sam argued, "Just a little bit of it." Her eyes held old fear in them as she looked at her friend, "I don't need to remind you what happened last time we let our guard down, do I?"

Her companion had enough sense to know that he couldn't change the pregnant woman's mind, so he kept silent until the elevator doors opened on the correct sub-level of the underground facility. "I'll feel better when we're with her, too," he finally mumbled as they started to walk down the familiar corridors.

"Think she'll be surprised that we're coming tonight instead of Monday?"

"Not a bit."

* * *

A/N: For those of you wondering, I am not telling whether or not Sam and Alec had a thing ten years ago. I am also not saying whether or not Eliot and the crew were actually invited to dinner ... just that they showed up. This will prove important in the next chapter. Random fruit comments will now be a staple of this story because one of my friends is pregnant and she seems to be craving different fruits and berries every other day. Monty Python might even make it in here. ... I really cannot say.


	7. Chapter 7

It was a tight fit, but somehow Cassie had managed to squeeze all nine people at her round dining room table. Considering that her table was only supposed to comfortably hold five people, she gave herself a mental pat on the back.

"Ya know, I"m not sure what ta think 'bout this after tryin' your chicken pot pie," Alec said as he accepted a hefty serving of lasagna from Teal'c.

Vala snorted at the other thief's hesitance, "You obviously don't eat very adventurous foods."

"And you do?" Alec shot back as he experimentally sniffed at the familiar looking food.

Vala grinned at him as she scooped up a bite of cheese, ground beef, and vegetables, all covered in a thick, heavy sauce. "I was once stuck in a place where the natives ate dung beetles as a delicacy. For three months."

Silence met Vala's declaration as she slowly chewed the lasagna in her mouth. After a rather pregnant silence Teal'c added his two words for the day, "I believe you had informed me previously of the insect in question being a centipede, Vala Mal Doran."

Vala stopped chewing for a moment before swallowing and answering with a, "Different planet."

Her answer was met by the sound of clattering forks as Nathan, Sophie, and Eliot simultaneously dropped their cutlery onto the ceramic plates before them. Cassie set down the last serving of lasagna in front of her own seat as she sighed and gave Vala a look that very clearly told her to fix the mess she had just created.

The space pirate's eyes widened as she realized her mistake. "Place," she said forcefully. "The centipede tribe was in a different place."

"You said planet," Sophie said with wide eyes, pointing accusingly at Vala. She turned sharply to look at Nate, "Didn't she?"

Nate nodded, his eyes narrowing accusingly at Cassie, "She said planet."

"Well that's silly," Parker put in as she took a bite of the lasagna. After swallowing she added, "Everyone knows there no such thing as space travel and aliens."

"You sure about that?" Alec asked, his eyes dead serious as they locked with the master thief's.

"Don't you think that people would know if there was life on other planets?" Parker said firmly, leaning forward slightly to help get the point across. "Secrets that big can't be kept for long."

Cassie cocked her head to one side as she sat down with the rest of them around the table as if it were any other Saturday night. "Why do you say that? Sounds to me like the government would want to keep something like that secret most of all."

Parker shrugged as she answered, "A secret that big can be kept by a small number of people, but the US government isn't wired like that. There's always a way in if you know were to look. Remember that news story a couple years back about that business guy -- Alec Coleson? He _obviously_ knew something."

Cassie had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from commenting on the well known situation after Coleson had been given a sample of Asgard DNA.

"Computers have been able to do shit like that for years," Hardison countered with his usual flippancy.

"But can computers do this?" Parker asked as she pushed her plate away and in its place set a familiar looking pocket watch with its face glowing softly at the crowd surrounding it. Parker pressed down on the glass like surface and the others watched as it gave way to the gentle pressure. A beam of light shot up from the center of the watch and expanded to sort of scan the room.

It lasted only a moment, but then a 3D image of a woman's head popped up and a monotone voice spoke, "Temperature 76 degrees Fahrenheit. Nine familiar life signs present and strong. Four unfamiliar life signs also present, potentially hostile."

Within a moment, Cassie was up and out of her chair, the pocket watch closed and in her hand as she made her way toward the rest of the apartment. There were only a few places the intruders could be hiding -- namely, her bedroom, the closet, or the bathroom. From somewhere she slipped a dagger into her hand as the silent Teal'c liquidly followed her. Eliot looked as if he wanted to follow as well, but held back, instead, he stood and took a stance beside the table, ready to defend any of his team members to the death if need be.

Nate frowned at Vala as she stood from the table but didn't follow the other two. She pulled her sidearm from the base of her back when she caught his look. The alien shrugged, "They can handle themselves in a fight against twice that number. I can't leave you all with only _Eliot_ for defense."

Despite the barb toward the human, her assumption proved correct as sounds of fighting could be heard from Cassie's bedroom and not thirty seconds later it broke through into the living room. Literally.

Eliot had to admire the scene as not one, not two, but _three_ of the assailants were shoved through the bedroom door and onto the floor through the splintered frame. The next thing he knew, Cassie jumped onto the only one left conscious, leaving the other two for Teal'c to watch after.

"Vala! Behind you!" Teal'c shouted in his deep baritone as one of the other assailants woke up and tried to start fighting again.

With fluid movements, the space pirate turned in time to come face to face with a maliciously grinning young man about the same age as Cassie. Her eyes went wide as she recognized the man she was pointing her gun at. His own weapon was unfamiliar to the humans huddled together on the other side of the table, but it looked vicious and threatening. "Malichi."

Cassie's head shot up at the name, one of her hands still ruthlessly gripping the neck of the prone man beneath her. "Stay down," she growled at his half conscious face before she got up and pulled a snake-like weapon from his body as she moved to stand behind Vala. Her weapon was held in one arm as if she were holding a gun with a low recoil.

"What are you doing here?" Vala asked with clear confusion in her voice.

Malichi cocked his head to one side as he smirked. He moved his finger to the trigger of his weapon as his eyes flashed. As his finger tightened on the trigger, Cassie reacted.

A beam of electricity spurted from her weapon and into the man's head, causing him to fall into a heap on the floor.

Vala knelt down to disarm the intruder as Cassie went in search of restraints strong enough to hold the aliens attackers in the living room. Teal'c kept watch on the unconscious bodies of the attackers as well as keeping an ear on the rest of the apartment in case there were more who had just arrived.

The team of thieves watched on in awe as the others worked on securing the apartment as if it was an every day occurrence. Indeed, that was exactly how it had been handled.

Hardison summed up their confusion quite well when he finally found his voice again a few minutes later. "What the hell was that?" He looked around at those next to him, "And what the hell happened to Tesa?"

"I'm right here," the redhead said with a wry look on her face as she showed up with a first aid kit for the cuts on Cassie's hands.

Cassie glanced at Hardison and the others, all looking at her as if she had just sprouted a second head. She tossed the paracord she'd found to Teal'c, knowing he and Vala could restrain their prisoners easily enough and that Tesa would have a fit if she didn't sit down and get her scrapes checked.

She motioned with her head to the group in the living room. (Teal'c was currently tying them up while Vala removed their shoelaces out of spite.) "Obviously a group of thugs looking for an easy mark."

"His _eyes_ glowed," Eliot put in seriously, not enjoying her flippant response. "That ain't normal."

Just then, the front door opened and a very stern gray haired man walked in, followed by a blond woman and two men sporting similar hair cuts in their brown hair. His quick eyes took in the scene before coming to rest on Teal'c and Cassie.

His eyebrows rose as he jovially commented, "I see _we_ seem to have missed the party."

* * *

A/N: ... Please no rotten tomatoes tonight. I'm sleepy after the month I've just had. Sorry it's short, but at least it's something. My muse (while not over this story just yet) is being particularly fickle right now. Probably the course load. When in doubt, blame it on college. Yeah ... blame it on college.

Answers for the Leverage team are coming up next. Promise. ... I just won't promise WHEN that will be.


	8. Chapter 8

Cassie winced slightly before turning her head to shrug at the newcomers, "Nothing we couldn't handle, Jack."

The gray haired man took a few steps into the room, looking around and cocking his head at the civilian thieves before turning back to look at where Cassie was sitting a few feet away from the awakening prisoners, "Yes ... I can see that."

"What the hell is going on here, Sam?" Alec asked, the hacker's eyes wide with fear as he looked straight at the blonde woman who had entered with the men. He pointed a shaky finger at the man now identified as Malichi, "His _eyes_ glowed."

The blue eyed vixen took a few steps toward him, her hands held out soothingly, "Alec," she said softly, "Calm down. You having a panic attack will help no one."

One of the younger men who had come in with Sam and Jack frowned and looked at the prisoners. His eyes flickered to Teal'c, "They glowed?"

"Indeed, Daniel Jackson" the rock of a man inclined his head minutely. "It would appear the Goa'uld are ready to attempt to reassert their power."

Alec pointed an accusing finger at Sam as he took a step back toward Eliot, "You said that was done with."

"What was done with?" Nate demanded, "What the hell is going on here?"

"That's classified," the final man that had come in with the others said with a frown.

"Well," Sophie put in, "Un-classify it. All of us know something strange is going on here and none of us will leave it alone until you tell us."

Eliot frowned as he looked at where Cassie was still getting her hand bound up by the other chef. "Are you an alien?" he asked seriously after a moment of silence.

A pregnant silence filled the room as Cassie looked into Eliot's eyes and attempted to work something out within her own mind. After a few minutes she nodded minutely and turned to look at the newcomers, "Jack, you might want to do something about the prisoners. They might know something useful and they can't stay here."

The gray haired man nodded sharply before letting his eyes flicker to one of the men behind him, "Mitchell, get ahold of the Hammond. It'll be best to keep this in house and not let the NID know about it just yet."

"Yes, sir," Mitchell said with military precision as he went off to make the necessary phone call.

"You cannot win," Malichi spoke with the deep timber of a Goa'uld symbiote. His eyes flashed as he turned to Cassie with a sneer, "There is a new order in the universe and you will bow to the will of your god."

Cassie looked at him unflinchingly and unimpressed as she responded, "And which god would that be? Ni'irti? Sokar? Ba'al?" Her disgust at the names filled her face as she spat at the creature before her, "They're _dead_, along with the rest of the System Lords."

Malichi's eyes flashed again as he barked at them all, "Hear me, Tauri! Before the child Colonel Carter carries is born, you will all be dead or serving your god, Hera."

"We will never serve you," Cassie said calmly, her face now a picture of serenity.

His response was maniacal laugher before he said, "I am but Hermes, herald of the great Hera. You will tremble when you feel his wrath."

Jack's icy gaze cut through the Goa'uld before him. "Been there. Heard that." His hand came up holding his side arm cocked and aimed at the knee cap of the prisoner, "Do you know how many of your so called 'gods' I've killed? You don't scare me any more than Ba'al did right before the Tok'ra cut him out of his host. Now _shut up_."

Mitchell walked back into the room in time to witness his C.O.'s outburst. He has his cellphone in his hand and motioned toward the prisoners, "Everything's all set for transport to _The Hammond_ for the prisoners and me."

"I will accompany you, Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c said in his calm, deep rumble.

The younger man shook his head, "No offense, Teal'c, but you're more useful here. Not to mention I know you haven't seen Cassie in months."

"Very well," Teal'c replied while Jack put away his side arm.

"I'll expect an update at 07:00 tomorrow morning," Jack ordered without preamble.

"How is Hailey going to bypass the anti-beaming technology in place around the apartment?" Sam asked with a note of confusion lacing her voice.

"She doesn't have to," Mitchell replied with a glare toward the prisoners, "Apparently it's already been disabled."

"That would explain the lack of noise," Cassie commented blandly as she went to check the apparatus that apparently was on the fritz.

"When are they going to --?" Vala was cut off as a beam of light encompassed the room and as it disappeared a few seconds later the prisoners and Mitchell had vanished. She smirked slightly, "Guess that answered that question, eh?"

Sophie looked at her with a touch of awe on her face, "And yet there are so many I can think of that have yet to be addressed." She turned accusingly toward Cassie, "Who the hell are you people?"

"I would have thought a professional grifter would have known _that_ before walking into a stranger's house," Vala pointed out.

Sophie turned one of her more infamous glares on the other woman, "It was surprisingly difficult to find information about you people. Even Hardison couldn't hack your system."

Hardison snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, "Couldn't? Baby you mean, wouldn't. There ain't no system I can't hack."

Sam smiled tensely as she explained, "Actually, Alec, if you had gone much farther than you did, your system would have completely fried."

The geek turned to her in surprise, "What the hell? Like, totally fried?"

"Like, systems have been known to catch on fire, fried."

"Um ... Sam?" Daniel asked, raising his hand like a student, "Question." He motioned between her and Alec before settling inquisitive eyes on his long time friend, "Who's this?"

Sam blushed as she nodded sharply, "Right. Daniel, Jack, this is Alec Hardison, my best friend from high school." She made eye contact with Alec and motioned toward the men next to her, "Alec, this is my husband, Jack, and a co-worker, Dr. Daniel Jackson."

"Great," Tesa pipped in jovially, "Now that everyone knows everyone else, I think it's time for Cassie to lay down. There's a nasty bump on her head."

Jack stepped toward his adopted niece, "That doesn't sound like, 'I can handle it myself.' Christ, Cassie, what the hell did they hit you with?"

Cassie pulled her head out of Jack's searching hands and shrugged, "My watch fell out of my pocket and I fell on it during the fight."

Jack winced in sympathy, "That looks about right, then."

Eliot swiftly took the few steps necessary to bring him side by side with the Air Force General as he, too, bent down to examine Cassie's wound. "What the hell kind of watch makes a dent like _that_?"

Cassie abruptly stood and backed away from the two concerned men. "I'm _fine_," she stated again with as much force as she could as she almost backed into Sam. "A bump on the head is not enough to put me down for the count when we need to figure out why the hell we haven't heard about this 'Hera' before."

Teal'c stepped forward and looked stoically at the group of people around him, "I believe this conversation would be best conducted after everyone has found a suitable seat."

Sophie sat down abruptly in one of the chairs Nate had pulled over from the table. She crossed her arms irritatingly and demanded, "Now what the bloody hell is going on here?"

Daniel snorted as he sat down in one of the recliners, "That's a long story."

"We've got nothing but time," Eliot put in as he sat down on the far end of the sofa from Daniel. "Enlighten us."

* * *

Cassie rubbed the back of her neck and sat down wearily in the chair that Jack pulled up for her before leading Sam over to the sofa to sit down. "It's your call, Cas," Jack whispered into her ear before moving away.

"I assume that Alec already knows the vitals?" she asked Sam. At her nod Cassie continued, "Okay, then. I guess what you need to know is that the U.S. government has been in contact with aliens for about the past thirteen years." The young woman waited for any response from the group, but when no one said anything she continued. Her eyes found Eliot's and she said, "I was born on a planet called Hanka that was controlled by a creature who fancied herself the god Nirrti and did genetic experiments on my people."

She took a deep breath as she continued, "When I was about ten, a group of explorers came through to my planet and started a series of events that ended in the death of everyone I ever knew."

"But not you?" Eliot asked, his brow furrowed.

Cassie shook her head, "No. Not me. I was taken to Earth and a few years later it was discovered that Nirrti had altered my genetic makeup. We thought she had changed it back, but ..." she just shook her head again and turned to looking down at the floor.

"The war with Nirrti's kind took a long time, and Earth was almost destroyed a number of times in the process, but it finally ended about three years ago."

"What's this got to do with what just happened?" Parker voiced the confusion the rest of the group felt.

Oddly enough, it was Hardison that answered her, "Nirrti was a Goa'uld. A parasite with a god-complex and way too much power."

"Imagine if Hitler and Mussolini had a child together and that kid had genetic memory and the desire to do more evil than both of those men combined," Sam added to clear up any confusion.

"Oh," Parker said, "That's bad."

"And that's an understatement," Vala shot back. "Anyway, we killed all the major players in the Goa'uld government and ... frankly, I've been expecting this for some time."

"Vala Mal Doran is correct," Teal'c put in with his usual raised eyebrow. "It is a miracle no Goa'uld has arisen to claim power before now."

Nate leaned over toward Sophie and asked her, "Aliens?"

"It would appear so," the British bombshell said with the same note of awe and disbelief.

* * *

A/N: Happy Thanksgiving to all of my States-side readers. To everyone else ... please leave the rotten tomatoes at your side until after Thursday. I'll gladly deal with them come Friday morn.


	9. Chapter 9

It took some time, but once they had digested the news, Eliot had a question. He looked straight at O'Neill and bluntly asked, "Why are you telling us all of this? We haven't signed a non-disclosure statement or anything."

"Hardison and Parker have," O'Neill replied. "And if you don't sign one when we're through with this, knowing all you know, then we have ways of making you forget."

"Why does Parker know?" Nate asked, irritation clear in his voice as he tried to make this information fit with his Catholic upbringing.

Daniel let out a laugh as he replied with a wry smile, "We had a very ... sensitive piece of technology get stolen a few years back. Parker was brought on to steal it back for us without being too blunt about it."

It was Eliot who brought things into blunt perspective, "You've been banking on us liking our memories more than we dislike the government, haven't you?" he shot at Cassie, none too harshly.

She looked at him questioningly, "Was I wrong? You should be thankful the CIA doesn't have the technology we do, with all the galavanting you've done throughout the years."

Eliot had a pained look on his face as he replied, "I would hardly call what I did galavanting."

"But they would. You saw some things you really weren't supposed to, Mr. Spencer," Sam replied, her eyes hard and sad at the same time. "We're offering you the opportunity to find out the answers to at least a few of your questions."

Nate and Sophie seemed situated on the edge of a deep precipice, and ready to fall either direction depending on what Eliot chose to do next. He didn't like feeling that they were choosing based solely on him. At long last, the hitter nodded once. "Where's the contract?"

"First we need to get things settled here," Jack replied, moving to the still-set dining room table and tapping on the pan half full of lasagna. "Cassie can't stay here."

"Jack, I'm not going to run," Cassie protested as she took a few steps toward him.

He rounded on her in an instant, "I promised Janet to keep you safe. We _all_ did. The last time you didn't run they had you for three weeks before we were able to get you back. _Three week_s, Cassie. That's not going to happen again. Especially not just because _you're_ being pigheaded."

She glared at him, "I learned from the best," she shot back before moving into her bedroom. A few seconds later the sounds of crashing books was heard.

"Shouldn't someone check on her?" Sophie asked softly as her eyes flickered to the doorway still bearing a hole from it's encounter with a heavy body.

Daniel shook his head, "She'll be fine in a while. When her mom died it was worse."

"What happened?" Nate asked curiously. At the looks from Daniel, Sam, and Jack that he received in answer he clarified, "Well, something had to have happened to shake her up like that. So? What was it? If you don't mind me asking."

Vala, sweet, detached from the situation, Vala answered, "Janet died in a rescue mission gone bad. She was saving a man's life when she got hit in the back by a stray blast and her vest failed."

"Oh God," Sophie said, getting up and moving to look out the window. Once there she turned to survey the others, "How horrible. Did the man survive?"

"Yes," Vala continued, "His first child was born a week later. A girl they named Janet."

As Vala answered the other questions that seemed to pop up from this story, Eliot quietly made his way to the destroyed bedroom were Cassie could still be heard throwing everything she could against the walls. He briefly wondered how much stuff she had before briefly glancing at Teal'c (who was staring back with stoic acceptance and approval) and stepping over the threshold.

Cassie had stopped throwing her possessions for the moment. Instead she was looked out the shaded window, a snow globe in her left hand as her back heaved with silent sobs. He briefly surveyed the destruction of her room and raised his eyebrows in respect at the amount of havoc she'd been able to wreak.

"Go away Eliot," she whispered before turning to the wall that separated her room from the living room. She shifted the snow globe from her left hand to her right, pausing a moment to trace the worn glass. It was clearly well-loved and had a significant story behind it.

Her right arm came back in a baseball pitcher's swing, but Eliot stopper her by saying, "Now what'd that snow globe ever do to you?"

Her arm dropped like lead and her puffy, red eyes met his, "Mom gave it to me the week she adopted me." She held it out for him to see. It was of Toronto. He hesitated a moment before stepping forward and picking it out of her hand gently.

He held it upright as the snow inside the globe fell around the Gardiner Museum. "I don't get it," he finally admitted to the distraught woman before him.

Cassie's watery eyes met Eliot's as she answered, "We couldn't tell people where I was really from, so we told them I was Canadian. From Toronto." She shrugged as she looked back to where Eliot held the snow globe, "Mom got it for me on a visit to Toronto a few months after I got here. ... To remind me."

Eliot nodded, as he began to understand why she had been about to throw it against the wall. Looking at it closely, he thought he could see the signs of where it had broken and needed to be repaired in the past. She must really not want to remember.

"Cassie," Daniel's voice broke through the moment as he called them back to the present. Cassie turned fully to face her adopted uncle as he added, "It's time."

Time for what, exactly, Eliot didn't know, but he soon found out as Cassie quickly retrieved a bag from under her bed and proceeded to stuff a few items into it. It was a select few, but Eliot was sure they all held the most value to the woman when she briskly grabbed the snow globe from him and put it on top of the other things in the bag before zipping it shut.

She nodded once to Daniel as she stepped past him and went into the living room. "Let's get this over with."

Eliot and Daniel sized each other up for the next few seconds. Both were clearly hardened fighters, well capable of holding their own, and there was a mutual respect that passed before they too joined the others in the living room.

"What's going on?" they heard Sophie ask Jack as Sam and Tesa said their goodbyes to Cassie and quickly left the apartment for God knows where.

"We're leaving," Jack answered with a clipped tone as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed number 3 on speed dial. A few seconds later he was telling the person on the other end, "Everything's set down here Walter. No, no, all lifesigns. ... Yes, civilians, too. ... Get SG-3 down here to do a sweep after we get there. ... That shouldn't be a problem. ... And tell Mathews that his team won the bet."

As he hung up the phone Cassie gave him a hard look that made Eliot cringe a little even though it wasn't directed at him. "Bet?" she questioned with a facade of calmness.

He gave her an equally hard look as he replied, "They had a bet going about what sex the baby was going to be. It's a boy."

Before Cassie, or anyone else, could respond a flash of white light filled the room and in its wake there wasn't a soul left standing in the small apartment. A fact that would confound the Chicago Police Department for some months as they puzzled over the mysterious burglary and kidnapping reporter to them by a middle-aged pregnant woman and her young friend who looked no older than 21.

The truth would never be found out. That very same pregnant woman made sure of that.

* * *

When the group re-materialized the room was dark and that fact alone set everyone on edge. It wasn't quite pitch black as there was some light flickering in from the windows, but given the fact that they had just come from a fully lit apartment, the difference was drastic.

"Ow! Jack!" Daniel gripped at his friend. "That's my _foot_!"

"Just let me find the light," the older man replied. "It's gotta be around here somewhere. ... Cass? Do you mind?"

"Not at all, Uncle Jack," the young woman replied as she flicked the switch on the wall next to her head. The warm glow of low wattage light bulbs filled the room as she added, "All you had to do was ask."

The Leverage team looked around their new, unfamiliar surroundings with different thoughts in their heads. Alec was wondering if there was a cell tower close by; Parker was counting the ways she could get in and out of the log cabin undetected; Sophie was trying to figure out if the antlers mounted on the wall would be worth much; Nathan was busy feeling like an intruder into the private life of someone he wasn't trying to con; while Eliot was just taking in the rustic simplicity of the building. ... Well ... and making a quick tally in his mind about things that could be used as weapons should the need arise.

"Where are we, exactly?" Nate asked for the group as Daniel took a seat with Vala on the sofa, and Jack made his way to the kitchen to check on things.

"Minnesota," Cassie replied. "Exactly twenty miles from the nearest town -- general store, post office and gas station that it is."

"Perfect place to hide out," Parker commented as she let her feet lead her wandering around the new dwelling. She'd have it memorized in ten minutes, no doubt.

"And to go fishing," Jack added as he returned to the main room.

"That pond only has one fish, Jack," Daniel gripped at his friend, "Why would you fish in a pond without a good supply of fish?"

Jack raised his eyebrows at his younger friend, "Danny-boy, if I wanted to catch fish, I'd be a fisherman. Fishing is about the experience, not about the fish."

"So, what happens now?" Sophie inquired as she moved closer to the fireplace to study a statue Jack had on the mantle. "We lay low for a while? Scatter? What?"

The tension in the room skyrocketed as Jack paused a moment before replying to the group as a whole. "Cassie is the only one who's really in any danger. You all can go back to your lives in Boston. Robbing the rich to avenge the poor and all that."

"When?" Nate asked, thinking about the job they had been asked to take a few days ago. God, it felt like so much longer than that. Had it really only been four days?

"Tomorrow, if you like," Daniel replied as he leaned forward on the sofa in that old habit of his.

"And Cassie stays here?" Eliot wanted to be sure of this before he brought up the thought that had been nagging at him for over an hour.

Jack nodded once, "It's as safe as she can get right now without being stuck under the mountain. At least here she can escape easily enough."

"Don't be daft, Jack," Cassie snapped as she rolled her eyes. She pointed a long, white finger at him and shook it as she said, "You know as well as I do that as soon as they've checked Nevada and Colorado and D.C. that they'll be coming here next."

"We'll keep you safe, Cassie," he replied with a hard look. "I'm not going to let Janet down a second time."

"I can take care of myself, Jack," Cassie firmly stated as she had an impromptu staring contest with the older man. Glaring was more like it, but regardless, it was quite interesting for the others to watch.

Surprisingly, it was Cassie who looked away first.

"I have an idea," Eliot said, shifting attention away from the wounded pride of the woman he was finding himself more drawn to each hour. "It probably would be better if Cassie was somewhere completely unexpected, right?" At Jack's nod, he continued. Without daring to look at anyone but the Major General he offered, "So why doesn't she come with us to New England?"

"And stay where?" Cassie ignored the shocked looks coming from multiple directions in the room. "Do _what_? I'm not exactly the type to sit idly by."

Eliot's eyes never left Jack's as he nodded slightly, "I have a place. Plenty to do and no one to rat you out or tell them where to find you."

"Safe, you say?" Jack finally spoke. "How safe?"

The hitter smirked, "Hardison couldn't even find it if he wanted to."

"Hey!" the hacker cried in indignation. "I resent that."

Jack turned to Cassie, "Your choice," he said calmly, although he definitely had given Eliot his vote of confidence.

Cassie's eyes flickered to where Teal'c stood silently by, watching things the others missed (like when Parker subconsciously tried to swipe a yo-yo from the table she was next to, and Sophie smacked her hand away). He inclined his head to let her know of his own support of the idea. She would be safe with them. And if she wasn't, then he'd personally tear each and every one of them limb from limb.

Cassie sided inwardly and tried to go for jovial as she said, "Guess I'm going to Boston."

* * *

A/N: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you (whether or not you celebrate it). I'm sorry this is up so late, but I decided to finish the chapter and post today as a Christmas gift to all my friends out there in cyber-world. I hope to have another piece of the puzzle up before the year changes, but that might happen or it might not. We'll see.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Sorry this is coming to you so much later than I thought, but at least it's coming before the first week of the new year is done! Happy New Year everybody!!!

* * *

It had been decided that Cassie and the band of thieves would leave the next day for Boston, via DC so that the three who needed to could sign the standard non-disclosure agreement for all matters relating to the Stargate.

Right now, though, Sophie was getting tired and asked Jack politely to be showed where she was going to sleep. Jack showed the three bedrooms to those who hadn't been to his cabin before. It didn't take very much conversation for it to be decided that the women would each take a bedroom, with Parker and Sophie sharing one, and Vala sharing hers with Daniel, Cassie keeping hers to herself, and the rest of the men would sleep in the living room to make sure they weren't surprised in the middle of the night.

Very soon after that was decided, most of the group decided to hit the sack. Cassie sat on the bed she had claimed as her own in the room she used to share with Janet on their trips to visit Jack's cabin. Her eyes were locked on the window, but she didn't really see anything as she listened to the sounds of the others bunking down for the night.

Her mind was buzzing at a mile a minute and she wasn't sure she would even be able to sleep even though her body was practically begging for rest now that the adrenaline had seeped out her pores.

As the others quieted down, Cassie slipped out of her shoes and curled up on the bed without bothering to huddle under the covers or to remove any of the rest of her clothes. Without even registering what was happening, Cassie's eyes fell closed and her breathing evened out.

* * *

_She was dreaming. She knew she was. It was the only explanation for what she was seeing. Well, either that, or she was dead. The second option was not acceptable. She had to be dreaming._

_Staring down at her with a hand device over her right hand and a syringe in the other, was Nirrti, in all of her gaudy, overly made up self. Her eyes flashed gold, momentarily making the black eyeliner fade._

_Cassie tried to move her arms, tried to fight as Nirrti's left hand descended to her abdomen. It was no use. She was completely strapped down, not even her head could move._

_Nirrti injected the drug straight into the skin covering where Cassie's uterus lay. Her eyes flashed again as her deep, almost mechanical voice gloated, "Your child will be the perfect specimen. A true hok'taur worthy of being my host."_

Cassie began to whimper as she tried to thrash out of her restraints, wanting nothing more than to rip every strand of black hair from Nirrti's skull before breaking her neck.

Suddenly, she was pulled from sleep by someone shaking her arm almost violently. She jolted up on the bed, her fear catapulting the reflex to lash out at her attacker into quick right hook.

"Ow," a familiar voice griped as her heart rate started to return to normal and she remembered where she was. "That's gonna bruise."

"Eliot?" she asked, her voice still a little shaky as she tried to throw off the remnants of her nightmare. "What are you doing here?"

He tentatively stepped closer to the bed, one hand massaging his arm where her punch had landed. "I was in the bathroom and I heard you. Sounded like a real bad nightmare, so I came in to make sure you were okay."

Her breath was still ragged as she turned slightly to look at him. HIs hair was up in a quick pony tail and he looked as if he'd been going through an exercise regime before waking her up. "Did I wake anyone else?"

He shook his head once, "Don't think so." His feet took him forward a bit more to sit next to her on the bed as she regained her breath and her composure. After some minutes of silence he asked, "Wanna talk about it."

Cassie shook her head, her loose hair tumbling over her shoulders as she bowed her head. "Just a memory."

The two sat in silence for a while, Cassie not having the heart to ask him to leave when she so desperately wanted to not be alone, and Eliot not wanting to move for fear she might need him for something. She shifted so that her legs dangled off the edge of the bed, and he put his arm around her waist, drawing her in close to his side. If there was one thing he knew about it was nightmares ... and memories.

"Nirrti mostly waited until kids hit puberty before going to work on their genetics -- switching things up and seeing what happened," Cassie finally said in a small voice no more than a whisper.

"But not with you," Eliot said, much more a statement than an actual question. The implications of what she was telling him ... he began to realize exactly how much she was trusting him.

"No," she shook her head slightly before laying it on his shoulder, as if it would give her the strength to tell her tale. "I think my first trip to Nirrti's lab was when I was three. That's the first one I remember, anyway." She stopped for a few moments, taking deep breathes as she tried to keep her tears at bay. "She -- she used to ... inject me with different drugs to see what would happen." She shook her head again as hot tears began to flow down her cheeks and onto the cotton muscle tee Eliot was wearing.

His arm tightened around her waist and he was positive that if this _Nirrti_ hadn't already been dead, he would have made her suffer through ten thousand hells before letting her die.

When her tears abated, Eliot shifted his weight, as if he was going to leave, but a hand on his arm stopped him. "Stay? Please?" The utter misery in her gaze decided him as she added, "I just want to feel your heartbeat. To remind me that she's dead and can't hurt me anymore."

"Okay," he whispered in reply before sliding back onto the bed and dragging her on top of him. For one night he could be a pillow to a distraught woman. For one night he could take comfort from her soft curves. For one night he could forget that he was the bad guy and she was the good guy -- not just some damsel in distress in need of his protection. For one night he could pretend that things could work out between them. For one night he could be something other than a hitter and a thief.

For one night, he could be _hers_.

* * *

She watched the sleeping couple with a look of sereneness on her face. She was glad that Cassie had finally found someone who wouldn't run the other way at the first sign of danger. There was something protective about the way her arm was draped over his chest and lightly resting on his own arm. When she had first stopped by the room, there had been a bruise darkening on that arm, but as the couple slept, Vala had watched as Cassie subconsciously healed the hurt skin.

Cassie's brow furrowed as if from a nightmare. She made a small whimpering noise that caused Eliot to immediately tighten his own grip on her waist, bringing her closer to his side and out of whatever harm her sleep state had taken her to. The younger woman relaxed again, her breath evening out after the hiccup.

Vala felt someone come up behind her and turned to look at Jack and Nathan. She held a finger up to her lips in the universal motion for silence as she silently closed the door to the bedroom and preceded the two men into the main room of the cabin.

"Well that's new," Nate said with a wry look on his face as he sat down heavily on Jack's sofa.

Jack frowned paternally at the room before looking again at the clock to check the time -- 06:30. "I can't remember the last time Cassie slept this long."

Teal'c stepped into the room from the kitchen, his rich baritone low so as not to wake the still sleeping hacker, "It has not been since Janet Fraiser suffered her sudden demise." He had two cups of coffee in his hands that he passed to Jack and a blurry-eyed Daniel.

"I'm not sure Eliot has _ever_ slept this long," Nate revealed with a slight look of shock. "Even if he is with a woman. He's always up at least an hour before the sun."

"Cassie had a nightmare last night," Daniel mumbled into his coffee cup. He took another drink before realizing the the others were all looking at him and waiting for an explanation. He shrugged, "What? Vala's a light sleeper. She woke me up at about one in the morning and told me to listen. I was about to go wake Cassie up when we heard Eliot go into her room." His lips curled up humorously, "She punched him."

Jack smirked slightly into his own cup of coffee before turning to Teal'c with a raised eyebrow as an unspoken question passed between

Teal'c inclined his head in an affirmative gesture, "I believe Eliot Spencer to be a good man."

"Okay, then," Jack replied with a nod of his own. "That's good enough for me."

Nate furrowed his brow in confusion, "Wait. What just happened?"

Jack's smile turned feral as he gazed at Nathan in a hard way that made many men freeze in their boots. "I've decided not to kill your hitter. _That's_ what just happened."

Nate looked at him for a long, hard minute before he finally sat back and said, "Okay. Now what do we do?"

"Now," Vala said as she sat beside her boyfriend with a cup of hot tea, "We wait for them to wake up."

"Why wait?" Parker asked as she bounded into the room with boundless energy that seemed inherent in her nature, despite the early hour. "Who are we waiting for?"

"We're waiting for Eliot and Cassie to wake up after spendin' the night together," Hardison groused, his eyes still closed as he pulled the covers over his head with a jerk. "Now _please_ let a brotha sleep!"

* * *

Eliot woke slowly for the first time in as long as he could remember. He felt safe and warm, the latter of which was entirely the result of the body pressed up against his in the most amazing and tantalizing way.

His eyes fluttered open in a way that would have made his teammates laugh. Keeping his breath even so that he wouldn't wake Cassie, Eliot turned to examine the room he had spent the night in. It was sparsely decorated: a nightstand on the far side of the full sized bed, black and white gingham curtains over the window, and a dresser on the opposite wall. Nothing fancy at all, and he liked the lack of fuss in the room.

His eyes flickered to the door and his body tensed. The door was closed. He distinctly remembered leaving it open the night before when he'd heard unsettling noises coming from the room Cassie was using. And now it was closed. That meant two things: 1) he had slept far longer than he had intended, and 2) someone had seen them sleeping together. He only hoped it wasn't Teal'c. Anyone else in the house he could probably take in a fight, but probably not the Jaffa.

The hitter started to shift around on the bed, trying to move from underneath Cassie without waking her up. Unfortunately, she was as light of a sleeper as he was normally, and under the shifting weight on the bed, Cassie's eyes flew open to see what he was up to.

"Um ... hi," he whispered, sitting precariously on the edge of the bed.

"Good morning," she whispered back as she slid down toward the center of the bed and stretched in a manner far too much like a cat for Eliot's liking. Oh the things that move did to her shirt, pulling it tight across her chest as her arms arched above her head.

She rose from the bed with a singular intention as she went to the closet. "I think there are some clothes in here that should fit you," she said as she began to riffle around.

He furrowed his brow in confusion as he watched her. Why wasn't she upset? It was like nothing could phase the woman except the mention of that ... what did they call it -- Goould? -- that had messed with her genes.

"Are we gonna talk about what happened?" he asked as she threw a shirt over her shoulder at him in triumph.

Cassie turned to look at him, her sleep tousled hair adding to the look of innocence she tried to cover her emotions with. "What is there to talk about?" she asked as she tossed him the pair of pants she'd found, "I think these should fit. You don't look any bigger than Daniel is."

"You had a _nightmare_," he pointed out as he pulled the flannel over his arms and began to button it up. It was a little loose, but better that than the other option. He looked at the waist of the pants and thought that they should fit, as well, but he wasn't about to change with her looking at him like that.

"I'm not the only one who gets nightmares," Cassie replied blandly as she went searching for something for herself to wear that didn't smell like dried sweat and have little spots of blood on it.

He had to concede that point as he had nightmares himself, but there was something that happened last night that he wasn't sure how to identify. "Yeah, but most people don't attach themselves to the nearest person they see after a nightmare. Especially not like that."

Cassie turned on him with a decidedly feminine sweater in one hand. Her eyes were hard and glinted steel as she furiously whispered at him, "What do you want me to say, Eliot? I was scared and when I'm with you ... the world doesn't feel so scary." Her eyes shut as the anger drained away from her. Tears were pricking at the corners of her eyes but she refused to let them fall. "It's nice to not have to be brave all the time," she added after a long moment of silence.

Eliot's mind went to his own past and all the times he'd woken up from a night terror and just wanted to hear someone's breathing as they slept on undisturbed. After he and Aimee had gone their separate ways, he'd had a hard time sleeping much at all. In fact, he was pretty sure the six hour stretch the two of them had just enjoyed was the most he'd slept at one time in years.

Without having a set mind to do so, Eliot rose to his feet and took the few steps needed to bring Cassie by his side again. He drew her into his arms and she came willingly. There was just something about her. They'd met less than a week before, but ... he'd be as broken as Nate was if she were to go away and leave him alone after this.

Something shifted in the air and Cassie leaned back a little to look into Eliot's eyes. She could see it, too.

"I can't promise forever," he told her in tones so low she had to read the words on his lips rather than hear what he said.

A smile turned the corners of her mouth as she shook her head, "I'm not looking for it."

She leaned back in, ready and willing to let him capture her lips in a mind-blowing kiss ... when someone started to bang on the door.

"Rise and shine, campers!" they heard Jack shout into the room. "Daylight's wastin'!"

There was no other response to give as the jolt back to reality worked as good as a bucket of cold water. The couple started to laugh.

* * *

A/N: I bet you thought they were going to start snogging, didn't you? Soon, but not yet. Right now they gotta run. As in: Big scary ubber-bad guys on the verge of attacking them.

Snogging will come soon, though, I promise. As will plenty of humor to balance out this surprisingly deep chapter. Oh, and if you haven't seen _Stargate SG-1_, please look at the Wiki page so you know at least _some_ of what I'm yapping about.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Haha! Take THAT Real Life!

* * *

The knowing looks from the rest of the group were a little disconcerting for Eliot to handle when he and Cassie finally emerged from the bedroom a mere five minutes later. They were closely followed by a bleary-eyed Sophie a moment later.

Cassie sent a cool look toward Vala, who was eyeing her with mischief and glee. She looked down at the sweater she had pulled from the back of the closet Cassie could see why: it was the sheer, bordering-on-obseene black one that Jack had taken one look at and refused to let her wear. She had thought he had burned it instead of throwing into the closet of extra clothes. It was a good thing she had a camisole on under it or there was no doubt heads would roll before Jack let her leave the cabin wearing it.

"I thought I burned that thing," Jack commented as he walked into the living space from the kitchen, handing his "niece" a cup of coffee. He offered the other one in his hand to Eliot but the hitter waved it off. "Not a coffee person?" he inquired wryly.

"Not when I'm not working," Eliot replied with his no nonsense face in place. "When are we leaving?"

"Better question," Hardison put in from where he sat on the sofa, nursing his own cup of java in place of a bottle of orange soda, "_how_ are we leaving?"

"The hovercraft, of course," Daniel replied with a straight face. The effect lasted all of five seconds before half of the room burst out laughing.

The geeky hacker looked at the others with wide eyes, "Y'all got a _hovercraft_? Jesus, man, y'all can't fix a car to get better than 45 mpg, but you got a _hover_craft?"

"No," Vala burst his bubble, "Hover technology hasn't been fully developed on this planet."

"But I do have a car that gets upwards of 80 miles per gallon," Jack added, dangling a set of keys in one hand.

"Is it a clown car?" Nate asked snidely, sipping his coffee gingerly before pointing out, "Because I don't think ten people are going to fit in your average sized government issue black sedan."

Jack nodded and tossed the set of keys to Teal'c, who caught them like a barn owl catches a wayward mouse. "But two nondescript Volvo's will."

"And where did you find a Volvo that can go 80 miles per gallon?" Sophie asked, the novelty making her genuinely curious, even in her sleepy state. "Mars?"

"Colorado Springs, actually," Daniel put in from his spot beside Teal'c. "One of Sam's hobbies is working with cars. And motorcycles."

Eliot turned to look at Cassie, "She made a car designed to go 35 max go 80?"

The baker shrugged, "All it needed was some replacement parts and a little tweaking."

Jack snorted, "A little tweaking?" he tossed the other set of keys to Cassie, "You crash that thing and you'll have a very angry pregnant woman coming after you. It took her four months of late nights to pull that thing off."

Cassie raised an eyebrow in a very Teal'c-like fashion as she felt the keys in her hand, "Time was she could do it in half that."

Jack shrugged unapologetically, "I made her stop to sleep and eat regularly. And take walks out in the sun."

The younger woman grinned at that and set down her half empty coffee mug on the table before moving to hug Jack fiercely. "I'm glad you found each other," she whispered before pulling back.

"Time to go," Jack ordered, moving around to check that his cabin was in order before leaving it again for an indefinite amount of time.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Hardison groused as Cassie took the bedding from him and put it in the linen closet. "Why does Eliot get clean clothes and I don't?"

* * *

"Are we driving all the way to Washington?" Parker asked as she bounced in the back seat of the car Cassie was driving, squished between a still half asleep Sophie and a still grumbling Hardison (even though he, too, had been given clean clothes ... a bland grey tee shirt and olive green kakis ... apparently it was a little less color than he was used to).

"No," Cassie replied as Daniel got into the passenger seat. "We're driving to Chicago. From there we'll catch a flight to D.C. Less conspicuous."

"Why are Nate an Eliot riding in the other car?" Parker kept up the questioning as Cassie pulled out onto the dirt road behind Teal'c. "Are they getting questioned?"

"Not exactly," Daniel replied as he leaned back in the seat and tried to get comfortable. "Vala wants to play 20 questions, but Jack and Teal'c don't want to play along. She's roped the other two into answering some questions she has about Earth."

"She doesn't look like an alien," Sophie mumbled into the side window she had her head against.

Cassie glanced into the rearview mirror at the other passengers as Daniel asked, "Do you really want the history breakdown of what exactly happened to deposit humans on other planets?"

"Yes," Hardison eagerly jumped on the chance to prove some of the theories he'd had since he was ten.

"No," Sophie mumbled against the door as she tried to fall back to sleep.

"Sure, why not?" Parker shrugged, not seaming to care one way or another.

Daniel cleared his throat in the way Cassie knew all too well. "The short version, please, Daniel," she practically begged him. "Too many specifics might confuse them."

"And take too long, right, Cas?" he asked with a grin before turning around in his seat and looking at the two eager to learn. "I'll try and be concise," he promised.

WIth a serious look in his eye he began, "We are not the first evolution of humans that this planet has seen. Humans originally evolved eons ago ... in a galaxy far, far away, but there was a great plague and most of them were wiped out. Those that weren't left on space ships to other galaxies in the hopes of carrying on their race and way of living. Some of them landed here. They are called the Alterans ..."

Cassie smiled slightly as Daniel delved into the history of the universe. Skipping over the boring and/or unimportant bits, and moving along to how thousands of years ago the Goa'uld came to Earth to find slaves and had started carting off humans by the shipload to other planets for labor, hosts, and to become Jaffa. All the while posing as gods ... or demons, as the case may be.

Her mind wandered while Daniel spoke. Her thoughts took her back to the memory she'd had the night before about Nirrti.

_She had been ten years old when that visit had happened. The only reason she was certain of her age was because the visitors from Earth had arrived three days after Nirrti had injected her with the unknown substance and mentioned something about her children._

_Cassie remembered asking her mother about children and babies when she was finally allowed to go home that night. She had curled up into her mother's lap as the middle aged woman rocked back and forth in a comforting motion that usually lulled the child to sleep._

_"Mommy?" she had asked timidly. "Where do babies come from?"_

_"The Goddess will provide a child for you to care for when it is your time, dearest," her mother had replied._

_"I thought you had to be with a man to have a child?" Cassie questioned again as she tried to burrow closer to her mother's warmth and away from the cold, metallic feel her visits to Nirrti always left her with._

_Her mother gazed down at her with a look of love on her face. Peace and love. "When it is your time, it won't matter, Cassandra. If your time comes, the Goddess's will be done."_

"The Goddess's will be done," Cassie mumbled under her breath as she followed Teal'c's speeding car down the deserted high way.

"What was that?" Daniel asked, turning to her as he broke off from his history lesson (that had worked better than Ambien CR in putting Sophie back to sleep).

Cassie blinked, coming back to herself with a bang. Her eyes flickered over to Daniel's before realizing what she had just said. Her heart started to race as she used her turning lights to signal to the other car that she was pulling over as soon as they came to the turn out.

By the time she was finally able to stop the car, Cassie was nearly hyperventilating with the knowledge she had just unearthed in her own mind.

It was all she could do to unbuckle her seatbelt, open the car door, and run a few yards from the vehicle before coming face to face with the previous contents of her stomach.

She leaned back on her heels as soon as she was sure she wasn't going to be throwing up again, unable to restrain the tears that felt so hot against her skin.

"Cassie?" Daniel questioned as he put an arm over her shoulders and sat down beside her. "Are you sick?"

She shook her head wordlessly, letting the tears run down her face and onto her pants without notice.

After a while a water bottle entered her field of vision and the blurry eyed woman looked up at a very worried Jack and Teal'c. A few feet away she was sure stood the rest of the group, worriedly looking on.

"Thank you," she whispered as she took the water and rinsed her mouth of the bile sticking to her teeth and tongue. As she focused on the coolness of the water, her tears stopped and her brain began to kick in.

She'd taken a few biology classes in college before deciding on becoming a chef. THere was a name for what Nirrti had done to her -- forced on her. Is forced evolution still evolution?

"I know why they're after me," Cassie finally said loud enough for the three men around her to hear. The tears were now long gone, replaced by a determination that reminded the men of the woman who had raised her for seven years.

Her eyes locked with Jack's as she whispered, "They want my baby."

* * *

Jack looked at her blankly for a moment as the news sunk in. "What do you mean 'baby'? You're not pregnant. You can't be!" His mind started to go to a very dark place as he thought about the implications of Cassie's last serious relationship ending over a year before and her insistence that she was carrying a child.

"Jack!" Daniel's shout brought him back to the present as Cassie got up and started pacing, the water bottle still in her shaking hands.

"It's nothing like that," Cassie was shaking her head. "No. You're right. I haven't had sex in almost a year. No ... it's parthenogenesis." She spouted off the big word as if it came second nature to her.

"Partheno-what?" Jack asked, his brow furrowed in confusion at the odd sight of Cassie's distressed figure using words as big as the ones Sam used on a regular basis.

"Parthenogenesis," Parker replied as she took a step closer to Cassie and the unfamiliar men that reminded her so much of the men she'd come to trust with her life. "It's when an egg fertilizes itself without the help of sperm."

"How do you know that, Parker?" Hardison asked for the group of now thoroughly confused menfolk.

The thief shrugged, "Some people do crosswords."

Hardison just shook his head and sighed. "There's somethin' wrong with you," he said in a clearly joking manner.

Nate frowned as he mulled over the information in his mind. There they were, standing on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and talking about things he was pretty sure were impossible.

"Parthenogenesis hasn't been proven in humans," he said as he too started to pace. "This is incredible. Just think what the medical community would do --"

"Stop right there, Mr. Ford," Cassie said with a glare as a car whizzed past them on the freeway, obviously going at least twenty miles over the speed limit. She put a hand on her hip as she pointed a finger at him accusingly to punctuate her statement, "You're forgetting one very important thing here: I'm _not_ human. Not in the way you mean. There are minerals in my blood that haven't been found on this planet in 10,000 years. Try explaining _that_ to the medical community."

Vala studied the younger alien with keen eyes that had seen too much. There was something else. She was sure of it. "What else is bothering you, Cassie? How do you know you're pregnant?"

Cassie stopped pacing and her arms dropped. She took a few deep breaths, as if fortifying herself before she confessed, "Nirrti told me." Before the original members of SG-1 could irrupt at that news she continued, "I had a dream last night," her eyes held Jack's gaze as she continued, "About three days before SG-7 arrived on Hanka I was in Nirrti's lab and she did something to my eggs ..." her voice dropped to a whisper, "I think she added Goa'uld DNA to them."

Daniel reacted first, as he remembered when she had been a teenager and Nirrti had shown up at the SGC, "And ... when you were a teenager and had to ... go into the forest?"

Cassie's eyes dropped and she studied her shoes, "That's when the girls are ... programmed to reproduce, I guess you could say."

"We have to take you back to the SGC for observation," Jack declared with all the authority his two stars gave him.

"No."

"No?" he parroted with a raised eyebrow. "That's the safest place for you to be, Cassie."

Her head came up and her eyes held as much stubbornness in them as the middle-aged man before her, "You know as well as I do that they'll be expecting that."

"It's the safest place for you to be," Jack argued, his arms gesturing wildly in a manner he'd somehow picked up from Daniel through the years. "At least if you're there the doctors can make sure everything's normal."

"Normal for who?" Cassie shot back, her eyes wide and almost desperate. "Dr. Lam may be good, but she's never dealt with something like this and she is _not_ a trained midwife."

The team of thieves attempted to back up a few steps so as not to witness another blowout between the young woman and the man who had been her guardian. Daniel and Vala attempted to do the same, but one long look from Teal'c had everyones' feet planted to the ground.

"The mountain is the _last_ place I should be right now," Cassie argued. She shook her head as she reminded him, "It may be more interesting for the president and the NID, but it's also not as secure as it could be, Jack." Her voice dropped to a normal level as she added, "I'm not going to do anything to risk this baby, Jack. If that means going to ground until it's born, then so be it."

Jack sighed almost inaudibly, but it was clear to all who were watching that the fight had gone out of him. "I don't like it," he told her firmly, holding onto his last complaint. "But you're old enough now to decide for yourself." He jerked his head in the direction of the thieves, "Do you still want to go with them?"

Cassie shrugged one shoulder as she searched out Eliot's eyes. In them, she was pleased to find a look of acceptance instead of abhorrence. "It's as good a place as any to start."

Jack's shoulders slumped before he took the few steps necessary to reach out and envelop Cassie in one of the tightest hugs she's ever received. "Keep in touch," he whispered into her ear, "Even if it's little things. Let us know you're alive and safe."

She nodded into his shoulder, "I will. ... I love you Jack."

"Love you, too, Cas."

Next was Daniel, whose hug was just as fierce, "Please don't name the baby after any mythological creature."

Cassie snorted as she pulled back, "And here I was planning on Persephone."

Teal'c did not hug her when he came to stand in front of her. He bowed his head and clasped her arm in his. "Live free."

"And die well," Cassie finished as she bowed her head in return. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears as she met Teal'c's eyes again. There was a soft look in them that most rarely saw. She attempted a smile as she added, "I'll make sure nothing happens to the baby, Teal'c. You have my word on that."

"And mine," Eliot said, cutting into the farewells. He met Teal'c's look of steel and added, "I'll keep her safe."

Jack wanted to snort at the incredibility of the idea that an earth-bound thief could keep Cassie safer than the SGC could. He refrained when the little voice inside his head (that sounded remarkably like his wife) told him to give the man a chance. "How do you plan to do that when you don't know what you're keeping her safe from?"

Eliot's gaze shifted to the older man as he explained with a few words as possible, "I have over a hundred and five safe-houses around the world."

Hardison's head snapped up at that. He frowned as he looked between Eliot and the others, "I could only find fifteen when I went lookin'."

Eliot's look turned grim and dangerous, "That's because I'm very good at hiding my tracks, Hardison. Otherwise I'd be dead." He furrowed his brow as he added, "We'll have to talk about the ones you were able to find."

Vala was still frowning when she embraced Cassie in the fiercest hug she could manage. "If you need us ..."

Cassie nodded as she pulled back, "I'll call."

She let go of Vala and took a step away from the group she trusted more than anyone. She bit her lip worriedly as she watched their stoic figures under the burden of her news. There was nothing else to be done. WIth a heavy heart she turned around, but Jack's voice called her back to herself.

"I want you to tell Teal'c where you're taking her," the general said with a clear command. "And don't forget to take out your transmitter before getting there, Cassandra."

Cassie didn't turn around, although she did nod at his reminder of the chip in her arm that let the SGC keep track of not only her, but every other high profile individual involved with the program.

After Eliot went with Teal'c a few yards away, safely out of hearing/lip reading distance, Cassie willed her body forward, toward the car parked a few yards away. She strapped herself into the passenger seat of the car and looked blankly at the dashboard in front of her.

It took a few minutes, but soon the band of thieves joined her, with Parker managing to wiggle her way between the driver's seat and the passenger seat to make the packed car seem slightly safer.

Parker patted Cassie's hand comfortingly as Nate pulled back onto the freeway. "Want to jump off a building with me when we get to Boston?"

* * *

A/N: Parthenogenesis is a real occurrence that is well documented in the animal kingdom, but unproven in humans. ... I got it off _House_.

Oh, and Parker's comment at the end ... they'd be wearing one of her specialty rigs, don't worry.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: And I bet you thought you'd have to wait a few more weeks to get this ...

* * *

They stopped somewhere in Iowa to switch cars and catch a bite to eat. Parker seemed to have attached herself to the woman who'd caused such a huge disruption in their lives. She was pretty sure Nate didn't like her, but that didn't really matter. He'd come around.

"So," Hardison started as they sat at an out of the way diner in the middle of Iowa. He was steadily mixing ranch dressing and catsup together for the plate of french fries loaded down on the plate in front of him, "Aliens, huh?"

Cassie nodded, a slightly blank look on her face as she mindlessly stirred the thoroughly mixed cup of tea in front of her. "Aliens. Robots, too, but I can't talk about that," she shook her head and lifted the cup to take a sip of the camomile tea one of the waitresses had been happy to provide.

Sophie had gone to the bathroom with her bag of tricks sometime ago, but now she was walking up to their booth with recently brushed hair, makeup fully in place, and fresh, wrinkle free, tailored clothes draped over her curves.

"DId you order yet?" she asked as she slid in next to Nate.

He nodded once, even though his eyes were still trained on the dessert menu, "Got you a salad with vinaigrette on the side, just like always."

She sighed, eyeing the fries on the other side of Nate, "Damn. I was hoping for something a bit more unhealthy than that."

Parker snorted at that, her eyes dancing as she countered, "This from the woman who wouldn't even touch chicken fried steak when we were in Nebraska?"

Sophie shrugged, "I guess I changed my mind."

Cassie could feel her stomach rolling around inside of her, unable to settle despite the tea. She doubted anything she ate would stay down at the moment. "I'll switch you, Sophie," she suggested as she looked across the table at the grifter. "My stomach feels like a bunch of Russians are dancing with vodka on their heads." She shook her head with a wry smile, "I probably won't be able to keep very much down anyway."

Sophie gave her a reassuring smile as she thanked her for the offer, "It will get better, Cassie. The first trimester is always the worst."

The male members of the team gave Sophie a weird look at that statement. "Since when would you know about pregnancy, Sophie?" Nate asked curiously as he took a sip of his coffee.

She rolled her eyes at him as she let the irritated note in her voice show through, "I _am_ a woman, Nate. It's practically a hobby of ours to study pregnancy."

He frowned as he opened his mouth to refute that claim, but Parker nodded, "It's true. Sophie and I watch pregnancy shows all the time."

Hardison looked across the table at the thief seated between Cassie (close to the window) and Eliot (seated on the outside to allow him to easily jump up to defend the others if need be). She shrugged in response to his non-verbal question. "Some people do crosswords?" he asked with raised eyebrows. "Man, girl, how many hobbies do you have?"

His tone made Parker look down with a hunch to her shoulders. Cassie frowned at how dejected the normally perky thief looked and quickly thought up a way to make her feel better.

"I have fifteen," she said, loud enough for the whole table to hear as one of her hands gently patted Parker's comfortingly. Cassie nodded with a smile on her face. She tilted her head as she thought, "Well, twenty-two if you count cooking and all the different martial arts and fighting forms I ... dabble in."

Eliot looked curious as he leaned forward to look around Parker at the alien woman. "Only six?"

Cassie's smile turned dangerous as her eyes glinted with unknown steel, "That I count as separate forms." She held up her hand and counted for them all to see, "Teal'c taught me two, an ancient form of martial arts and a slightly more modern form of staff fighting; Jack, Sam, and Mom taught me different levels of Air Force hand to hand -- which I count as one; Jack also taught me a form of fighting that I'm not allowed to talk about; before I came to the USA, my birth family made sure that I was proficient in knife fighting; and even though there's extreme differences I choose to group Eastern fighting styles into one form with many styles. That's six."

Eliot's face went from confused to bearing a healthy level of respect and awe. "You do know most people would group Eastern fighting styles into at least seven different forms, don't you?"

Cassie's face lost the danger and steel in it as she shrugged, "But they haven't seen everything I have. You know, kenpo reminds me a lot of some of the fighting Teal'c and his people do. From what Colonel Mitchell has told me, there's a group of highly trained warriors that practice a more developed form of it. Very dangerous men to cross paths with."

Eliot inclined his head slightly in interest, "You'll have to show me some time."

Cassie wrinkled her nose, "I'm not that good at it. You should ask Mitchell next time you see him."

Eliot nodded slightly, "I just might do that."

The conversation would have continued, but just then the waitress came up with the rest of their food (since Hardison and Parker had already quietly demolished the plate of fries she had brought out) and all talk ceased.

Just as guaranteed, Sophie got her burger slathered in BBQ sauce and cheese, and Cassie could hardly stomach the cucumbers and tomatoes that covered the lettuce.

* * *

They were just finishing up eating when Cassie felt the first tingle on the edge of her consciousness. She fell deep into her mind and prodded out where it was coming from, and how far away the naquadah was.

With a jolt she grabbed Parker's arm as it reached across the table to take another one of Hardison's fries while he was busy arguing with Eliot about something to do with sports.

"What is it?" Parker asked, confused as she pulled her arm back and looked at Cassie curiously.

"We have to go," she said softly so as not to be overheard. "_Now_."

Nate's brown eyes caught hers and he searched them for something she wasn't sure about. "You're sure?"

Cassie nodded once, "Positive. They'll be here in about ten minutes. Maybe less."

"How can you tell?" Eliot asked with a frown, knowing she had done something similar when Vala and Teal'c had surprised her with a visit.

"My field of awareness is limited," Cassie responded bluntly. "Based on how the signal in increasing in intensity, my guess is now eight minutes before they bust through that door."

"Then we better burst through first," Nate said as the team began to ready hastily for their departure. He threw some money on the table -- no doubt about twice as much as what their bill was.

Less than two minutes later the souped up Volvo was once again speeding down the highway and away from the danger that now seemed to lurk behind every corner.

Hardison was watching the scene back at the diner unfold from the safety of his cell phone and a tap into the security camera he had been a little surprised to find in the middle of nowhere. He whistled from the back seat as he showed it to Eliot and Sophie before asking, "How'd you know?"

Cassie looked over her shoulder at the three in the back seat before shrugging and saying, "Can't we just call it my Spidey-sense?"

Hardison frowned before saying, "We could, but now you got me interested. Sam only ever told me the basics of what I was working on fifteen years ago."

Now it was Cassie's turn to frown. "Fifteen years ago the Stargate was still an unknown that scientists were trying to puzzle out. Sam had no clue what it _did_ fifteen years ago."

Hardison had the decency to look a little sheepish as he replied, "I might have kept in touch for a few years."

Cassie sighed and shook her head, her stomach protesting the prolonged stretch, so she turned to look out the window as she spoke. "The Goa'uld have a mineral in their blood that makes most of their technology work. It's called naquadah. After a while it gets into the bloodstream of the host as well and starts reproducing like white and red blood cells. When you have naquadah in your body, you become sensitive to other naquadah deposits. The Stargate is made up almost exclusively of naquadah and feels like ... a big beacon when I get close to it. People with naquadah in them feel more like a ... blinking light in my mind that gets louder and stronger as they get closer."

"But you weren't a host?" Nate asked for clarification. He was pretty sure if she had been host to one of those things they'd seen yesterday that someone would have said.

"No," Cassie shook her head slightly before leaning against the door of the car. "Nirrti had a nasty habit of messing with the genetic code to see what would happen. She ... did something to my DNA when I was growing up, and when I was ten she put a naquadah bomb in my chest."

"Woah! Hold on!" Hardison nearly shouted. "There's a _bomb_ in you?"

"Not any more," Cassie sniped at him. "After they figured out it was there and a way to disarm it, the naquadah was reabsorbed into my bloodstream. Now all it serves is as an early warning system to Goa'uld presence, and allows me to control their technology. It won't reactivate unless I'm around the Stargate for too long." No need to tell them about what else she could do thanks to Nirrti's interference. There were some things they were just better off not knowing.

The car fell into silence as the team took in the information. Cassie watched the scenery as it passed, her mind keeping a tab on the part of her mind that controlled the blinking radar in case something reappeared on it. She closed her eyes and evened out her breathing to mimic sleeping and halt any future attempt at conversation.

* * *

"What's the plan?" Sophie asked when they switched cars in Cincinnati a few hours later.

Cassie held her bag slung over her right shoulder and held in her left hand in the way women wear long strapped purses. "I won't risk your operation," she said as she shook her head. "I'll head ... somewhere else."

"No, you won't," Nate replied with an iron look in his eyes. "We told your friends that we would keep you safe."

"You don't understand just how powerful these people are," Cassie told them, trying to convince them it was safer if she left now and took her enemies with her. "They're not like humans. They don't feel remorse, or guilt, or anything else. The Goa'uld that's after me has no conscience and she wouldn't even blink before making you die a thousand times."

Hardison's eyes got wide as the hacker began to realize how much danger she posed (not that he was really remembering what could happen to him anyway should the rouge agents of the NID get ahold of him). "D-did you say a _thousand_ times? As in: they kill you, bring you back, and kill you again?"

Cassie nodded with disheartened eyes, "I've seen it done. I won't ask you to go through that. Not for my baby and definitely not for me."

Eliot stepped forward and grabbed her arm, forcing her to look at him when she would have rather looked anywhere else. If she walked away now, neither one of them would know what could be between them. Perhaps it was safer that way, but Eliot was far from a safe bet.

His blue eyes bored into her hazel ones as he said, "You don't have to ask us. I already told them that I'd keep you safe. I don't want to face Teal'c or General O'Neill if I don't keep that promise. That's one fight I _know_ I wouldn't be walking away from."

Sophie took the few steps necessary to rest her own hand on Cassie's arm reassuringly. "We're in this. Together," the grifter promised.

"All of us," Nate added, his callused hand covering Sophie's as his thumb brushed the shoulder beneath.

Parker shrugged, not moving from where she stood, "You promised to jump off a building with me. I can't let you leave before we do that." She thought for a moment before perking up and adding, "And maybe once the bad guys are dealt with we can steal a painting together."

"Aw, hell," Hardison complained as he rolled his eyes and stomped his foot on the ground. "Sam'd kill me if I didn't help in all this."

Cassie let a small smile grace her face at that pronouncement, remembering when she had been younger and seen Sam angry for the first time. It was a sight to remember.

Nate clapped Cassie's shoulder, "Great, then. We're decided. You're coming with us. Hardison, identification for Ms. Fraiser."

"On it," the hacker said, his fingers running rapidly over his iPhone. "What name d'ya want?"

Nate thought for a moment, stepping back to pace a moment before stopping to say, "When we went to Chicago Sophie and I were going as the Bakers. I still have Tom Baker's ID one me and it would be good to have her as ... yeah, as a cousin or something. Yeah, okay, make her a Baker and we'll claim a family vacation if need be."

"I like Lizzie," Parker perked up and said with a smile. "Lizzie Baker sounds cool."

"Common, too," Hardison said with a wink to Parker as he pressed some more buttons on his phone. "We need to drive to Kinko's."

"You can get a fake I.D. from Kinko's?" Cassie asked as the group made their way to the new car rented under Eliot's very good fake I.D.

"Naw, man," Hardison says with a shake of his head as they got into the rented sedan. "But you can sure print one off there if you know what to do."

Cassie frowned as the news sunk in and they made their way through the Cincinnati traffic to the nearest copiers.

* * *

_In the beginning the universe was dark. That was the theory anyway. Others believed the universe has always been without beginning and without end. No one was quiet sure who was correct. It didn't really matter, though, it was just a friendly debate._

_Where the specks of light met, darkness didn't matter. Of course, it was dark where they were, but when you've shed your corporeal form light and darkness cease to matter._

_"The child must survive," one of the beings of light said._

_"We cannot intervene any more than we already have," the second of the three beings said with what would have been a shake of his head had they been in corporeal bodies._

_"She must survive," the third being said, "Even if it means that we must continue to intervene. Both the mother and the child are too important to let die."_

_"How can we choose her path for her? It goes against the very beliefs that set us apart from the Ori," the second being questioned._

_"The others have examined the evidence," the first said, "And it has been decided that she must know what is necessary for her to make her choice. Reason must prevail and the child must live."_

_"And if the one they call Cassandra Fraiser does not agree?" the second questioned again, clearly not fully comfortable with the idea of interfering more then they had already._

_"Then free will and reason still will have been upheld."_

* * *

A/N: For those of you new to the SGC party, the little lights at the end are, in fact, ascended Ancients/Alterans.

Happy birthday to me. It means that my joy gives you another chapter less than a week after the last one.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: So ... thanks for the reviews. They certainly helped. We're moving along with the plot thing now.

* * *

Her arm felt hot. It couldn't be more than seventy degrees in the car and yet her arm felt like it was on fire. Cassie looked down at the spot just below her right shoulder and she knew why.

"I need a knife," she told Eliot, who sat beside her in the middle row of the sedan.

He frowned as he flicked one into his hand. He handed it to her with a question, "What is it?"

Cassie cut away the sweater in a clean slice, knowing she'd have to do the same thing to the other arm or people might notice. "The transmitter in my arm. They can track me using it."

"How's it work?" Hardison asked from where he sat behind them.

Cassie's hands were never idle as she attempted to tie the sleeve around her arm like a tourniquet. Eliot's expert hands stopped her and helped secure it with the right amount of force. She gritted her teeth as she thought about cutting into her own skin. "Like a GPS. It lets the SGC lock onto my exact location in case of trouble."

"And, like a GPS," Hardison nodded as he sat back down, "It can be hacked."

"Give me the knife," Eliot gruffly commanded as he felt her muscle for the small insert. The sensitive pads of his fingers finally found the slight irregularity. "Parker," he ordered, "Alcohol swabs."

The thief handed him the cotton and the rubbing alcohol from the back seat. It had been Sophie's idea to stop to get the basic medical supplies. "Because Hardison is so accident prone," she had reasoned to Nate at the time. Now Eliot and Cassie were only too thankful that there was less of a chance of infection.

Cassie closed her eyes and bit down hard on her tongue as Eliot used his paring skills for something other than fighting or cooking. The pain was intense and isolated, and yet not as bad as Cassie had feared. When Eliot poured rubbing alcohol over the wound after the transmitter was out, it hurt much worse.

"Good God!" Sophie took in a sharp breath in shock at the sight of Cassie's arm, and the locator now in Eliot's blood covered hand. "How long has that been in you?"

The younger woman tried to think through the slight fog of pain as Eliot undid the tourniquet and pressed a clean cloth to the wound. "Since I was sixteen. It was a lot less painful to put it in."

"You can have some pain killers in a second," Eliot promised as he handed the odd device to Hardison for a quick analysis before picking up the bandages Parker had thrown next to him on the seat. "Let me bandage it first."

"Don't bother," Cassie replied, knowing the naquadah in her blood would increase her healing time dramatically from experience. "The blood's already clotted."

Eliot frowned and looked at her, "How's that possible?"

She smirked back at him, "Alien, remember?" She took one of the wipes loaded down with rubbing alcohol and wiped her arm above the injury, the scab revealed beneath looked as if it had been healing for a good twelve hours, rather than the seconds it had actually been. "See?" she asked as she looked back up at Eliot with a smile.

"What are you going to do with the transmitter, Hardison?" Nate asked from the front seat as he tried to keep his attention on the road.

"Throw it in the river?" Parker asked.

"Toss it onto a car going the other way?" Sophie suggested.

"I was gonna study it for a while," Hardison mumbled.

"Give it to me," Cassie demanded, holding out her uninjured arm to reclaim the blinking device.

Once the hacker had reluctantly handed the device over, Cassie wasted no time in searching out the weakest part of the transmitter and crushed it to oblivion with naquadah enhanced fingers.

"Why'd you do that?" Hardison griped as his heart went out to the poor device that never even stood a chance.

Cassie sighed and was going to answer, but Eliot saved her the trouble, "Because it's a liability."

"But ..." Hardison started to protest, but he drifted off as he watched Cassie take a swipe at her injured skin a second time. This time the skin revealed beneath was the light pink of a new scar, "That is so weird."

"If Eliot could do that, then he'd be like Spiderman," Parker commented with a slightly gleeful look on her face.

"I think you mean Superman, Parker," Hardison replied.

Parker cocked her head to one side as she thought about it for a moment before saying, "Eliot can't stop bullets." She turned and poked his shoulder, "Wait ... _Can_ you?"

* * *

Boston. The city of ... she wasn't quite sure. Her education on Earth hadn't included a rundown of the customs of all major cities. She knew about the Boston Tea Party, and the harbor close by but that was about it.

All she saw as she looked out the window at the passing buildings was a city full of desperate people in a desperate time.

They had arrived in Boston early that morning, somehow managing to catch a train in Michigan, dumping their rented car in a mall parking lot along the way. They had taken a train to Albany, deciding to drive the rest of the way after that. The car hadn't been ten miles from New York's capital when the sounds of snoring and soft, sleepy sighs could be heard from the back seat where Alec and Parker were sprawled forth. And now, here they were, driving through the great city of Boston as the sun came up to crest atop the high rises that lined the streets.

As Cassie watched out the car window as Earth's sun came into view, she couldn't help the solitary tear that slowly rolled down her cheek. She was thankful that Parker, Hardison, and Sophie had fallen asleep sometime before. She was sure Eliot would be asleep as well, if he wasn't taking turns with Nate driving.

"Are you okay?" Sophie whispered to her.

Apparently she wasn't as asleep as Cassie had thought. She turned to the grifter and nodded, forcing a smile, "Yeah, sure. Why wouldn't I be?"

Sophie gave her a look that clearly stated that she knew the truth of her feelings, if not her thoughts. "Other than the fact that you've just had to up and run from everything? And then you found out you were pregnant through no fault of your own?"

Cassie's eyes darted down to the safety of the upholstery between their seat belts. She gestured slightly with her head. After a moment she whispered back, "There's only one sun."

"How many did your planet have?" Sophie enquired with a tilt of her head as one of her hands covered Cassie's comfortingly. Like Sam had done after Janet had died.

Cassie's eyes went distant as she thought back to where she'd spent the first ten years of her life. "It has two." A small smile glinted across her face as she said, "In the summer we used to watch them travel across the sky ... it always looked like they were playing tag or something." She shook her head as she fell silent for a moment. She turned to face Sophie again, "I'm not sure I know how to be a mother. Whether I'm _ready_ to be a mother."

Sophie squeezed her hand encouragingly, "You have nine months to prepare yourself for all that. Not to mention three to decide if you even want to _be_ a mother right now."

The younger woman could feel her eyes well up again as she turned to look out the car window and the awakening city. After a while Sophie wasn't sure she was going to reply, so she was surprised when a few precious minutes later Cassie whispered, "I'm just not so sure that's even an option for me."

* * *

Nate pulled the car into a parking spot on the road in front of the bar where each of the teammates had an apartment. With little fuss, the group led Cassie up the stairs to Nate's apartment/their headquarters.

"This is a bad idea," Cassie reiterated again as she took a seat on Nate's sofa.

"Tea?" Sophie asked, purposefully ignoring the comment.

Cassie was beginning to feel the effects of hardly eating the day before and nodded her head before turning to Nate in her pleas, "If I stay here, they will find you. I don't want to see any of you hurt."

Nate raised his eyebrows as he studied the young woman intently for a few minutes. His eyes flickered to where Eliot sat in his favorite seat, noting the murderous glint in the hitter's eyes at the thought of Cassie being left to fend for herself and her baby.

"Yeah ... I'm gonna have to go with Eliot on this one," Nate said as he turned back to Cassie. His head was tilted to one side as he resumed his study of their new guest, "Your friends asked us to help keep you safe. So that's what we're gonna do. You can whine and complain all you want, but you're not leaving."

Her eyes grew as hard as the naquadah that flowed through her veins, "What makes you think I need your permission to go?"

Nate leaned back in his chair opposite her as Sophie brought in two cups of camomile tea, sweetened with just a touch of honey. She passed one to the pregnant alien and kept the other for herself as she took a seat on the other end of the sofa.

"Finding people is what we do," Nate reminded Cassie with a hard look of his own. "We're probably the only people around that can keep you safe."

She snorted as she glanced to where Hardison had settled down beside his computer and a two liter bottle of orange soda. Parker was no where in sight, but that didn't mean she wasn't there. "You can't keep me any safer than they can," she shot at the room in general, her hands desperately gripping the hot cup. She shook her head as she added, "You don't even know what you'd be up against."

"Worse than Russians?" Hardison asked, his fingers effortlessly flying over the keyboard as he hacked into God knows what.

Her mind filled with thoughts of pain sticks, staff weapons, memory recall devices, and all the other horrors the Goa'uld, and by default the Trust and Hera, had access to. She wanted to say something, but she wasn't sure what, so she just let out the shudder that was threatening to break forth, and took a sip of the piping hot tea Sophie had so kindly made for her.

"I can handle bad," Eliot gruffly stated as she fiddled with the infuser that held her tea leaves.

Again she shook her head, remembering how bad off Jack had been once Sam and the others had finally gotten him back from Ba'al. Her voice nearly broke as she said, "It would be worse than bad. Worse than awful. ... They have ways ..." she trailed off, not wanting to put words to the evils the Goa'uld were capable of.

Eliot shook his head, "I don't care. I can handle it."

Cassie's eyes came up at this and she drilled into his blue orbs, "They can make you betray everything you hold dear and think that it was your idea and that you were right to do so. It's not just about your body and how much pain it can endure -- it's about your soul and your mind. Things you should be able to trust implicitly are no longer sound. Do you really want to open yourself up to something like that?"

"Sounds like fun," Parker chipped in from where she was hanging upside down from the stair well that led up to Nate's bedroom.

"We've dealt with some pretty bad guys in our day," Sophie reassured Cassie with a smile.

"No," Cassie again tried to make them understand, despite how futile she knew it was. Her watery eyes looked now at Sophie as she said, "You've dealt with some pretty bad humans." Turning to look at Eliot she added, "But the people after me ... they _aren't_ human. There isn't a single shred of humanity in them."

Eliot refused to back down as Nate answered her for the whole group, "So when the time comes, we fight dirty."

"And until then, we keep you safe," Eliot added, in what seemed like a bit of a role reversal for the team captain and the quarterback.

Cassie shook her head as her face fell to look into her cup of tea. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

* * *

A few hours later found Cassie attempting to sleep in the guest room of Eliot's apartment, as it was the only one that had a bed and wasn't filled with clothes, shoes, computer parts, or other forms of geekery and addiction.

She stared up at the white ceiling riddled with that horrible popcorn technique contractors seemed to favor. One of her hands covered her stomach, where new life lay growing beneath her skin. She drew random patterns over her skin, unconsciously drawing the Gate address of Hanka over and over again.

Her mind went blank and within a few more minutes she was asleep.

_She was in the kitchen of what used to be her home. Looking down, she saw that in her dream she was much farther along in her pregnancy and a light cotton gown in the color of sunflowers covered her bulging figure._

_Her eyes traveled to the worn wooden table settled in the middle of the packed dirt floor. A carved bowl and spoon lay there, as if their owner had just left them to go outside and meet their friends for a rousing game of stick ball. A tear slid down her cheek as she recognized them as having belonged to her sister, Mira. Next to the bowl and spoon there was a nick in the wood from when Cassie had dropped a carving knife._

_The shuffling of cloth made her turn her back on the memories. She was faced with a woman who looked so familiar and so very foreign at the same time._

_"You always did love that table," the stranger said with a fond smile that gently reached her light brown eyes._

_When she smiled, Cassie knew who she was supposed to be and smiled in return, "And you always hated it after you went to the temple."_

_She shook her head, "I didn't understand what it was that you knew better than any of us: the importance of family."_

_Tears fell unbidden from Cassie's eyes as she shook her head at the apparition, "Why are you doing this? Why did you bring me here? Looking like this? While you look like her?"_

_The woman shook her head, "I didn't bring you here. This is where _your_ mind went, Cassie. Of its own accord." She lifted her arms as she looked down at herself, "And as for my appearance ... granted I don't age like I used to, but I thought it would be best to look a little older than the last time you saw me."_

_Cassie shook her head fervently even as tears clouded her vision, "No. My mother is dead. She died the same day everyone else did -- in the same horrible way."_

_The other woman's head of short, dark brown hair fell slightly as she motioned toward the table, "Care for a seat?"_

_Despite the tears, Cassie glared at the apparition with venom scarcely found in humans even as she sat down before her sister's worn bowl and spoon. "My mother is dead," Cassie reiterated forcefully, even if her voice did waver a bit while speaking._

_Her host nodded as she sat across from her. "That is both true and false, young Cassandra."_

_Her glare turned to one of confusion as her hands mindlessly glided over the grooves in the table. "What do you mean? It's either true, or it's not. It can't be both. And who the hell are you anyway? Invading my mind and looking like a dead woman?"_

_Soulful brown eyes met Cassie's from across the table as she said, "My name is Ganos Lal, although you'd know me better as Morgan le Fay, and Janet Fraiser was not the second mother you had the misfortune of losing. She was the third."_

She awoke with a start. At first confused as to what had put a sudden stop to her conversation with (apparently) an Ascended Ancient Daniel had told her about a few years ago. She held very still as she listened for the noise to repeat itself.

"Psst. Psst."

"What is it, Parker?" Cassie asked, keeping her voice as low even as her heart returned to normal and her eyes focused on the smaller woman.

The thief hopping onto the full sized bed beside her as she asked, "Want to go jump off a building?"

Cassie thought about what she had just found out and she found the idea a great deal more appealing than it had sounded the day before.

"Let me grab my shoes."

* * *

A/N: For those of you unfamiliar with Stargate ... might I suggest gateworld (dot) com? It has very helpful section headings about weapons and alien races to help dispel any confusion you might face after this chapter.

Happy (not quite) Valentine's Day! Here's to another year of being single on purpose! In honor of V-Day, I'll try to get Cassie and Eliot snogging in the next chapter. Perhaps Sophie and Nate, too.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Just go with it. Behold: Plot.

* * *

Eliot was busy sauteing vegetables for the soup he was making for Cassie when Hardison came into the kitchen. "Yo, man, you seen Parker?"

"Why would I have seen Parker?" Eliot asked without looking up from his skillet.

Hardison gave him an odd look as he crossed his arms over his chest and dry-panned, "Because she _told_ me she was comin' over here to talk to Cassie."

The chef/fighter looked up at that, "Well I haven't seen her. And I haven't heard anything from that room, either." He frowned as his mind processed what he'd just said. As there was little probability that Parker had just curled up like a cat next to Cassie and fallen asleep ... no noise was _not_ a good sign.

In unison the pair set off down the hall toward the room Cassie had been using. They were half way there when they heard the front door open and laughter reached their ears.

"Did you see the look on his face?" Parker said animatedly. Although they couldn't see her, it sounded like she was jumping up and down.

"It was priceless, really," Cassie replied with a smile in her voice. "You'd think he'd know better than to hang out in back alleyways."

Hardison backed away from Eliot slowly as he saw the hitter turn from cool and collected to ready to knock heads together in half a second flat.

He did a complete 180 and was striding into the living room before Hardison could blink. It took the hacker a few seconds to get his wits about him, but once he did he was hot on Eliot's heels.

"Where the _hell_ did you go?" Eliot nearly shouted at the two women when they came into his view. Both were holding canvas bags that were stuffed full of things he wasn't sure he wanted to know about.

Cassie turned to him with a smile while Parker gleefully said, "Cassie jumped off a building with me! And now she's going to show me how to make cake."

"You're not much of a bodyguard if you didn't know I was gone for an hour and a half," Cassie pointed out glibly as she attempted to pass Eliot and move toward the kitchen.

His hand shot out and grabbed her arm in a vice grip that was firm, even though he wasn't putting in enough pressure to bruise her skin. He didn't say a word as her head whipped around to face him. Parker and Hardison took a few steps back from the two as they had what could only be described as a battle of wills.

"An hour and a half?" Eliot ground out as his eyes flashed barely controlled anger.

Her chin jutted out stubbornly, "You're not my keeper, Eliot."

His eyes narrowed into slits as he pulled her closer to him minutely. She went willingly even though her muscles were stiff beneath his fingers. "You're right. I'm not. But that doesn't mean you have to be stupid about all this."

"I can take care of myself."

"Like you took care of yourself before?" he shot back. "Tell the truth now: if Teal'c hadn't been there how would that fight have gone?"

There was a storm of emotions in her eyes that only Eliot was privy to. She didn't answer verbally, so he asked again, "What if they find you again when you're alone and there's no one to help you?" He frowned, the concern he felt coloring his vision as he added softly, "No one wants that."

The watching thieves knew that something passed between the two after Eliot's words, although Cassie didn't verbally respond. After a few silent minutes had ticked by, she inclined her head toward the kitchen, "Your veggies are burning."

Eliot swore before letting go of her arm and rushing to stop the heinous crime in motion.

"Come on, Parker," Cassie said, forcing a smile to her face as she turned toward the smaller woman, "We can use your kitchen."

Parker looked at the bags dubiously as she admitted, "There's nothing _in_ my kitchen."

"You can use mine," Hardison offered. "I've got somethin' I wanted to show you guys anyway."

Cassie nods her acceptance and stays with Hardison while Parker bounces into the other room to tell Eliot of the plan. She frowned as she realized just how young the man next to her was. He was probably about the same age as her, give or take a year. "How do you know Sam?"

"High school," Hardison replied with a smirk.

"She's twenty years older than you, how could you have _possibly_ gone to high school with her?"

Hardison's smirk turned into a full blown grin as he replied, "Never said I went to high school _with_ her. We went to the same high school. She left some nasty encryptions and firewalls on the computers to mess with hackers like me ... after I beat them all, she IM'ed me. I IM"ed her back, and we've been friends, I guess, ever since."

"How old were you?" Cassie could feel some of the pieces dropping into place in her mind, but this man couldn't have been that old when all this started.

"I was fourteen when I broke through her firewalls," he shook his head fondly at the memory, "About four years later -- a month before I turned eighteen, she asked for my help with a project she was working on."

Cassie thought back to four years after the Stargate Program started. The N.I.D. was running rampant and she remembered her mom grousing about how unsecured a top secret facility could be. General Hammond had asked Sam to update the firewalls ... looked like she got some help.

"Can we go make cake now?" Parker asked as she nearly buzzed with energy beside them.

"Ladies first," Hardison said with an over exaggerated bow and sweep of his arms.

* * *

"Keep stirring until the chocolate's fully in and you can't see any more lumps," Cassie ordered Parker as she put some water on to boil in the tea kettle she had (surprisingly) found in Hardison's cupboard.

"Then what?" the thief asked as she did as she was told.

"Make sure the pans are sprayed and pour the batter in evenly."

"Can I help?" Hardison asked from where he sat at his dining room table, a computer and another bottle of orange soda in front of him.

"NO," the two women said in unison. He had tried to help in putting everything in the bowl, but Hardison's idea of help apparently included dropping half a dozen eggs fresh from the farmer's market. Oh, and a cup of flour over the mess.

He then tried to claim that someone had pushed him. When Parker was at least five feet away from where he dropped them.

Hardison visibly deflated, so Cassie said, "You can help with the frosting. That doesn't involve eggs _or_ flour."

As his face lit up, Parker chimed in with a sing-song voice, "And if you screw it up, I'll chop you into little pieces and send them express to Iceland."

He gulped as his eyes darted between the two women. He attempted a feeble laugh, but it was weak even to his own ears, "Haha. You're joking, aren't you Parker?"

Parker didn't even look at him as she lovingly and caringly poured the batter into the three waiting cake pans. Once she was finished she gave Hardison a look that made even his worst nightmares seem like a day at church next to Nana.

Cassie helped the expert thief arrange the pans on the racks in the preheated oven before reminding her that they'd need to be rearranged half way through baking so that one wasn't more done than the others.

Cassie was measuring out the ingredients for the cream cheese frosting she was going to have Hardison make when the door opened and they heard the distinctive clip of high heels on the hardwood floors.

"What's up Sophie?" Parker asked as she jumped up onto the counter, earning a slight glare from Cassie.

"Is Eliot here?" the grifter asked as she rounded the corner into the kitchen.

"Why would Eliot be here?" Hardison said dubiously.

Sophie turned to him and said, "He told Nate and me that he was making lunch and to meet here."

"Whacha talkin' 'bout?" Hardison asked with a furrowed brow as he sized up the older woman.

"Lunch is here," Eliot announced as he walked into the kitchen carrying two things: the first was a plate loaded down with sandwiches, and the second was a stainless steel stock pot covered with a matching lid. There was a delightful smell emanating from it and toward Cassie's nose.

"Smells good," Parker said as she got some bowls and plates out of Hardison's cabinet while the hacker got the spoons needed for the soup.

"Where's Nate?" Eliot put the food down on the dining room table Hardison had bought just to make the room look less big. ... And because Sophie had made him. He tried not to dwell on that last part.

Sophie motioned with her hands toward the door, "He's finishing up a call with our new client. I think he's setting up a meeting for tomorrow."

"I'm here!" Nate announced as he bounded through the door and took in the food set on the table the group was congregating around. "Looks good, Eliot."

"Thanks. I appreciate it," the hitter replied as he started putting sandwiches on plates and passing them out. He skipped Cassie and she gave him an inquiring look.

"You hardly ate solid food yesterday, and my guess is that your stomach still feels like you have the flu." He filled up one of the bowls with the delicious smelling soup and handed it to her with a spoon. "Worked great for my sister when she was pregnant."

"You have a sister?" Hardison asked in awe.

Eliot glared at him, "How else do you think I got a nephew?"

Cassie took the bowl and spoon as she sat between Parker and Sophie. She stirred the pureed mixture with the spoon for a moment, not really caring that all the noise around her had stopped as she brought the spoon up to her nose and sniffed. "Is that ginger?" she asked as she studied the smell.

"Good nose," Eliot commented as he sat down across the table from her and picked up his own sandwich.

Cassie put it in her mouth and savored the soup before swallowing with a nod and a small smile, "Rosemary and thyme, too. With a hint of sage ... and is that turmeric?"

"Curry blend," Eliot smirked with a nod of his own. "My neighbor's recipe."

"It's good," Cassie replied, taking a second mouthful as her stomach settled itself and welcomed the nourishing liquid with ease.

* * *

"_You can't keep ignoring me_," the voice in her head told her as she finished the last of the soup.

"Go away," Cassie muttered under her breath as she put the last spoonful in her mouth. Her hunger was sated for the moment.

"What?" Parker asked, looking up at Cassie with wide eyes.

"Hmm?" Cassie asked, the soup still hot on her tongue.

"Did you say something?" Parker expounded as she put another piece of her sandwich in her mouth.

_"I won't go away so easily. There are things you must know_," Ganos Lal said stubbornly in a voice that only Cassie could hear.

Anger flared up suddenly in Cassie's heart at the ascended being who was, for lack of a better word, haunting her. She clenched her fists on either side of the bowl as she stared into the empty ceramic dish. She wanted to smash something in frustration.

Without warning the bowl in front of Cassie shattered into a hundred tiny pieces. with a smash.

Sophie gasped in shock as the others stared at Cassie with wide eyes.

"What was that?" Sophie asked, trying to remain calm as everyone stared at the broken pottery.

Cassie shook her head, "I don't know."

"_If you would stop ignoring me and listen to what I have to say, then you would,_" Ganos said rather smugly.

"Shut! Up!" Cassie shouted to the near silent table.

Eliot frowned as Nate asked, "Sorry?"

Cassie closed her eyes and shook her head as she pushed back from the table violently, "Not you, Nate." She stood up and looked around with a glare that sent a chill down even Eliot's spine. "Do the Others know you're interfering, Ganos Lal?" she asked the room in general as she spat the name out like a curse.

"Who's Ganos Lal?" Nate asked as Eliot and he stood up to try and calm Cassie down.

"Only the most annoying being in existence!" Cassie shouted out, trying to goad the Ancient into showing herself.

A woman in an ivory suit appeared behind Cassie. Her hair was cropped short and her brown eyes sad and piercing as she shook her head slightly, "Trying to insult me will not make me go away, Cassandra."

Cassie's eyes narrowed to slits as she put her hands on her hips and refused to look around. "Can't blame a girl for trying."

"How'd you do that?" Hardison asked as he jumped out of his chair and came to stand slightly behind Eliot, Parker and Sophie hot on his heels.

Ganos Lal turned to the dark skinned man and simply replied, "When one has no corporeal form, it becomes extremely easy to appear where one wills."

"What the fuck is going on?" Nate demanded, his eyes darting desperately between Cassie, their mystery guest named Ganos Lal, and Eliot. "Someone explain right now!"

Cassie finally turned her glare on the woman behind her as she said, "I'd actually like to here this, too. It's not every day you break a bowl with your mind."

Ganos nodded her head as she clasped her hands before her and started to speak, "Cassandra Fraiser has already told you my name. I am Ganos Lal, Mr. Ford, although you'd know me better as Morgan le Fay."

"Woah," Hardison said, stopping her with a frown as he held one of his hands up in the universal signal for 'stop.' "Morgan le Fay? As in Merlin? Arthur? Knights of the Round Table? All that stuff?"

Ganos inclined her head slightly at his words, "Indeed, Mr. Hardison, exactly right." A brief smile flickered across her face as she thought back to that time, a thousand years before, "Although I must say that human imagination has taken a number of liberties with the tale."

"That's all very nice and all," Cassie cut in with a raised eyebrow as she crossed her arms across her chest, "But that still doesn't explain why I'm doing things I haven't done since I was teenager."

The others looked at her sharply for a moment before Nate said, "Ignoring for the moment that this has happened to you before, let's go with the more obvious issue: What the hell is going on?"

Ganos lifted her head and her eyes settled on Cassie's stomach. "Her pregnancy is causing a few side effects that Nirrti did not plan for in her brain chemistry."

"A few?" Eliot growled out. "She blew up a bowl. With her mind."

"And she floated," Parker put in eagerly. "When I went to wake her up, she was about three inches off the bed."

Deciding to address the issues as they had appeared, Ganos Lal replied, "The bowl was reacting to the intense burst of anger Cassandra was feeling, and her desire to break something. Levitating is a common side effect in pregnancy among the Al -- those Cassandra comes from."

Cassie''s blood rushed to her feet as the almost slip Ganos had made registered in her mind. Alteran. That was the word she had been about to say. But they had died off in this galaxy a thousand years ago. That would mean ...

Before she could finish the thought, Cassie fainted, her limp body falling like a half cooked noodle to the floor with a thud.

"Are we in danger having her here?" Nate asked, ever the pragmatist, as Eliot picked her up and carried her over to Hardison's couch (which the hacker was quickly clearing of the various computer bits littered about it) with Parker hovering close by.

Ganos shook her head, "No. There are those that wish to study her and her child and use them for their own purposes, but the Others agree that she is too important."

"Others?" Sophie questioned, "Cassie mentioned 'others.' Who are they?"

"Like me," the alien explained vaguely before she turned around to watch the progress being made in trying to revive Cassie. "She will need smelling salts. The shock to her mind was great."

Eliot gave the hacker a look that asked him to get the necessary salts. Hardison took off, knowing he wouldn't find what he needed in his apartment, but Eliot had some ready in his kitchen.

"What shock?" Parker asked, trying to hold onto the evolution of the conversation and failing miserably. She sat by Cassie's head, watching over Eliot's attempts to wake her with observant eyes. "That she's an alien? I think she already knew that."

"Yes," Ganos smiled softly, "But she was under the impression that she was more human than she is."

"What is she?" Eliot asked as he ran a hand over her neck under the pretext of checking her pulse.

"A different form of human," was the answer. "She is the necessary evolution of your kind, and that came as something of a shock."

Hardison came rushing back in and tossed the small vial to Eliot, who caught it fluidly. He unstopped the bottle and waved it under Cassie's nose a few times before the woman gasped and shoved it away before sitting up.

"What the hell?" she said as she looked around. Her eyes fell on the woman still standing in the same spot in the center of the room. "Oh. Right. You again. Haven't the Others spirited you away _yet_?"

"The Others _sent_ me," Ganos told her flatly with determination lacing her words and her eyes.

Cassie's heart was still beating a little fast and she was lightheaded enough to have to lean back in order to keep sitting up right. "Now why would they do that?" she accused.

Ganos bristled at that. She started to glow bright white as she shot back, "Because, among other reasons, _your mother_ asked them to," right before turning into an annoyingly bright ball of light and flying out the window.

As her mind digested that news, and the fact that the persistent reminder of the dead was gone, Cassie found that she wanted to do nothing more than pass out again. So she did.

Unfortunately, Eliot still had the vial of smelling salts in his hand, so the bliss of oblivion didn't last for quite so long.

* * *

A/N: As I said before: just go with it. If the slight OOC-ness that is how I wrote this bothers you, you might as well stop reading now because it's not going to get better. ... and it just might get worse now that I'm in Leverage Withdrawal Mode until Season Three starts in the summer.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: ... Sorry for the author's note at the end of the last chapter. No excuses, I was just having a really bad week. My apologies, and and thanks for staying with it. Behold: snogging!

* * *

After convincing them all that nothing would be exploding in the next few hours if she was allowed to rest, and on the condition that Eliot stay with her and not let her out of his sight, Cassie was allowed to go back down the hall to rest and process the information she had just learned.

Once inside Eliot's apartment, he locked the door, knowing it couldn't stop any of his teammates, but also knowing that everyone but Parker would take the hint and not bother to try picking the lock.

Eliot heard more than saw Cassie walk further into the apartment before he turned around to see her huddled into the corner of his sofa, her legs held tightly toward her chest with her arms, and her cheek resting on one of her knees as she let the tears flow.

His feet took him toward her while his mind was balking at the idea of having to deal with a crying woman. He may be good with women -- hell, he was _great_ with women, but the last time he'd seen one that he cared about _cry_ he had ended up beating the shit out of the good-for-nothing asshole that had caused her that much distress. (June 2004: he had been visiting his sister and nephew in North Dakota and her "boyfriend" had made some choice comments about her and her family that Eliot couldn't let slide.)

He didn't really have that option here.

Slowly, hesitantly, he sat down beside her, one of his arms wrapping around her shoulders involuntarily as he pulled her close to his body heat. His other arm wrapped around her from the front, wrapping her completely in his arms and away from whatever danger (real or imagined) lurked in the shadows. Her crying increased to what could only be described as sobs as she turned her head into the nook of his shoulder and her body started to shake with the force of her grief.

It took some time, but after what could have been a few minutes or a few hours, Cassie calmed down to intermittent sobs punctuated with sniffling and shuttered breaths. "Wanna talk about it?" Eliot asked as one of his hands took up rubbing her spine up and down in a comforting motion.

Even as she shook her head negatively, Cassie moved her head so that it was resting against Eliot's shoulder and she could speak unmuffled. "I can't tell you much. I don't know that much more than you do, really."

"You don't have to tell me anything," Eliot assured her, knowing better than to push. In fact, the best way to get her to open up would be to tell her something about himself ... Something the others only guessed at and didn't know for certain. "Must've been hard," he said, pulling her still curled body closer to his, "Losin' not only one, but two mothers. I came close to losin' mine once."

Cassie caressed his shoulder with her cheek as she asked, "What happened?"

Eliot took a deep breath and started in on his tale. "When I was three my daddy died in a bar fight. My mama got married again when my twin sister and I were seven. The beatin's started slow, but when I turned fourteen ... that's when he almost killed her." He tried to remain calm and collected, but the rage he still felt toward his stepfather was too great for him to fully contain and his body remained rigid as a plank. "We came home from school to find him layin' into her with his fists and ... and a cast iron pan."

He shook his head as he remembered what happened that day, "I don't remember what happened next. My sight went red, I guess. My sister tol' me later I jumped up on his back and started in on him without warnin'. Didn't let up until he was worse of than our mama. Only thing that got me to let up was my sister callin' 9-1-1 to get help."

Eliot trailed off, a lump forming in his throat as he remembered just how close he'd come to losing his mother that day. "Even ten minutes later and it would have been too late," the doctors had told them.

Cassie shifted her weight, letting her legs out of their position so that they could drape over his. She pulled herself up slightly and kissed his cheek softly before putting her head back on his shoulder. "I didn't speak for a week after my mother died," she confessed. "I was all alone for the better part of a day, but she had died almost two days before that. It makes me sick to think about those last days and all my missed opportunities." She tried to burrow further into his body and he shifted to give her better access. "Sam kept on telling me how very brave I was ... am. Then Janet brought me back to her house." A brief smile flickered across her face as she continued, "I nearly screamed the first time I saw her turn on the television. Not to mention the first time I ate pizza."

The retrieval specialist squeezed her arm gently, "It must've been hard to lose her."

She looked up at the side of his face as she answered, "In some ways it was worse than losing Aris. It was so sudden -- she was saving a man's life one second, and the next she's fighting for her own." More tears fell from Cassie's eyes as she recounted the abbreviated version of Janet's death. "And then she was dead. You know she died while Sam was on the phone with me, telling me that she'd been hurt?" She looked down at his hand on her shoulder and picked it up, examining the calloused fingers as if they held the secret to life itself.

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel now," she admitted. He let her turn his hand over as she traced a faint scar that ran down one finger and across his palm. "It's like my life is one big game of hot potato. Here's a baby, don't keep her too long or you might get attached."

Eliot took control of his hand again and used it to angle her face so that he was looking her in the eye. "Don't know 'bout them, but I kinda like the idea of gettin' attached." He leaned forward and planted a chaste kiss on her forehead. "That was a shitty way to find out you were adopted ... again."

She frowned, "See, that's what doesn't make any sense. I've heard stories about the day I was born -- from people who had no cause to lie to me about it. Stories about my mother's pregnancy with me. Not to mention there hasn't been an Alteran on this plane of existence in this galaxy for almost a thousand years."

"We'll figure it out," Eliot reassured her before leaning in again to kiss her cheek. She moved her face at the last moment, however, and his warm lips fell on hers.

She tasted like honey and something else he couldn't quite name. Pheromones, perhaps, but whatever it was he wanted more. She let out a small gasp as his lips brushed hers again, but to his pleasant surprise, she didn't let him move back, instead she grabbed hold of his neck and angled herself so that she could kiss him more deeply.

His tongue slid along her lips, demanding entrance to her mouth. She let him in tentatively even as one of her hands migrated to the back of his head and pulled him down with her as she leaned back on the couch. It took all his willpower not to let his hands roam up and down her soft body, but he managed it even while plundering her mouth with his tongue.

He used one of his arms to prop up his body so he didn't crush her, causing Cassie to moan in what sounded like yearning and despair that he was moving away from her. Eliot hushed her protestations by pressing his mouth more firmly into hers.

Time passed both agonizingly slow and agonizingly fast for the couple as they explored each other's reactions. It felt at the same time like three hours and thirty seconds had passed before there was a knock on the door.

Eliot broke away with a ragged breath and and glassy look in his eyes. "This is gettin' to be a pattern," he muttered before getting up to answer the door. As he shifted his pants to hide the bulge, he heard a snort from directly behind him.

"Could be worse," Cassie commented as she passed him with a skip in her step. She gave him a once over and fluffed out her hair as the person knocked again, more adamantly than before. "They could have waited ten minutes before knocking."

Eliot cleared his throat in an attempt to hide his discomfort as he let Cassie open the door to reveal a frazzled looking Hardison.

"Ummm, I need some help," Hardison asked as he nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other. His eyes darted from Cassie to where Eliot was standing with his arms crossed and a colossal glare on his face. Hardison's eyes widened and he took a step back, motioning behind him with his hands, "Yah know what? I'll just go ask Nate. I'm sure he knows."

Cassie rolled her eyes and sighed as she grabbed his arm to stop him from moving, "What happened?"

Hardison was still eyeing the murderous look in Eliot's eye as he replied, "I might have screwed up the frosting for Parker's cake ..."

Eliot's scowl turned into a frown as he groused, "How the hell could you screw up _frosting_?"

Hardison's pride reared its head at the implied insult, "Hey, man. It's not like I've ever made it before. Ya can't expect miracles."

Cassie snorted, "No, but I would expect you to be able to put the pre-measured ingredients in the bowl and use an electric mixer to blend them."

Hardison looked down guiltily and Eliot knew that he had done something to the ingredients that he didn't want to tell Cassie about. "Let's just go fix this so Parker doesn't kill you, all right?" the hitter groused out with another glare firmly in place on his face.

* * *

A short time later found the trio in Hardison's apartment, confronting a very angry looking Parker who happened to be brandishing a fork as if it was a dagger.

Cassie painted on a bright smile in an attempt to dispel the murderous look in Parker's eyes as soon as she came in view. "Let's see what we're dealing with here, shall we?" Cassie said as she brushed past the irate thief, leaving Hardison's well-being in Eliot's very capable hands.

She retrieved a spoon from the silverware drawer and peered into the mixing bowl with the frosting in it. Taking the spoon in hand, she dipped it in and found the cream cheese frosting not only too thin, but also smelling quite strongly of lemon juice.

With a quizzical look toward the thieves she asked, "Why does this smell like you put in ten times more lemon juice than necessary and no sugar?"

Hardison's voice sounded entirely too meek to belong to the man she knew he was as he responded, "There might have been an accident."

Cassie looked at the floor and saw a few missed grains of sugar, "Ah. And instead of using common sense and replacing the exact amount of sugar you spilled on the floor, you decided to just not replace _any_ of it."

"Only half of it spilt," he replied defensively. "How was I supposed ta know what _half_ was?"

Parker growled at him and Cassie heard him whimper in response. "I'll fix it Parker," Cassie said quickly, "Don't kill him just yet."

"Hurry up for I won't be responsible for my actions," Parker replied in a sing-song tone.

"Just give me two minutes."

It actually took 93 seconds for Cassie to fix the frosting to some level of decency and eatability.

"Done!" she proclaimed, causing Parker to drop the fork and rush over to her side.

The jewel thief stuck her pinky into the mixture and brought it to her mouth. Her eyes lit up with glee as she tasted the now properly sweetened frosting.

"Now, you remember how to frost a cake, right?" Cassie inquire as Parker started jumping up and down with joy at the prospect of frosted cake.

Parker nodded and gave the baker an overview of the same information she had given her a few hours earlier. "I take them out of the pans, cut the top off the layers so that they're flat, put frosting on top, put the second one on top of that, then more frosting, then the third layer. Then I make it look pretty with the rest of the frosting over the whole thing." Her voice changed to the sing-song cadence that Cassie took to mean she was happy, "And then I eat the _whole_ thing."

Cassie stifled a yawn as she tried not to laugh at her enthusiasm. "Try not to get sick, Parker. I'm gonna go take a nap." She patted her stomach lightly, "Making a baby seems to take a lot out of a woman."

"Wait!" Parker demanded as she whipped out a knife and started cutting a slice out of the cake. "You have to try some first and tell me if I did it right."

She put on a beaming smile and sat down as she was requested while Parker placed a slice of cake and a fork in front of her. It wasn't too big, of course, because Parker loves cake too much to more than grudgingly share it with others. ... Especially when she made it herself.

Cassie brought a forkful of chocolate cake to her mouth and bit down. Her eyes lit up. It was good.

* * *

Within the last two years, business had continued to thrive in the barber shop somewhere in the cultural mass that is Indiana. Life had been good to Joe Spencer.

Ever since he'd followed his gut and gone to seek out General Jack O'Neill with two L's five years ago things had started to turn around for him. True, things hadn't worked out with him and Sharlene, but he was on great terms with his now college aged son, Andy. They spoke regularly as the young man studied film making in California.

Joe whistled as he swept the front of the shop, wanting to get the chore done as quickly as possible before Meg showed up for their date tonight. She was a joy, she really was.

A high school physics teacher by trade, she had a laugh that sent shivers down Joe's spine whenever he heard it.

It never crossed his mind that things had been going along too perfectly for the past few years. When the connection between him and Jack O'Neill had been severed, he'd been able to sleep easier at night not knowing what great enemies were out there. After his eight years attached to the stone and O'Neill's mind, however, he'd never be naive enough to think that they were free from the danger of alien incursions. There were always hints and clues lying around for those that knew how to look for them.

The bell rang on the door as someone walked in with the distinct clip of high heels on linoleum.

"I'm sorry," Joe said, turning around to find himself face to face with a woman he didn't recognize (quite a feat in a town of a few thousand). "We're closed."

She graced him with a smile that put an entirely different kind of chill down his back as she raised her arm and he saw that she was wielding a zat gun. His eyes went wide as the stone cold woman with bright red lips calmly said, "I know," and fired one shot right at Joe's heart.

He fell over the pile of hair clippings his broom had gathered. She advanced slowly toward his prone body, her eyes glowing briefly as she put one stiletto on his side before pressing a hidden button on her watch.

The thirty-something woman who was skipping down the lane and headed toward the barber shop was the only witness to the flash of light that filled up the inside of the shop and just as quickly disappeared. She gasped as she ran the rest of the way there, threw open the door and found no one inside, just a pile of hair and Joe's broom.

Meg did the only thing her frantic mind could think of: she called the one man Joe trusted -- Jack O'Neill.

* * *

Daniel was worried. There was no denying it any longer. Even the translation he was currently working on that SG-10 brought back from ... somewhere, wasn't holding his attention as it would have a week ago.

Two days without any news. Two days of not knowing anything and he was slowly going insane. It was a hard lesson for him to relearn after the years of relative peace what it felt like to sit on his hands doing nothing and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Hello Daniel," a familiar voice said behind him.

He turned around sharply, squinting at the ascended being in his office. "Morgan," he said noncommittally. "How's it goin'?"

Morgan le Fay sighed and closed her eyes as she shook her head ruefully, "Not well. The Others have given me leave to ... provide guidance to Cassandra Fraiser, but she is taking my presence and the information I need to provide her with ... less than ideally."

Daniel's squint turned to a frown as he realized the implications of what she was telling him. "The _Others_ are letting you interfere in human life?" he asked dubiously.

Morgan gave him a look, "The child Cassandra is carrying is quite possibly the most important being your planet has seen since Merlin and Galahad."

"More important than the rules?" Daniel countered, anger swelling within him as he remembered how far things had gone in the past before the Others would help. It had almost led to their very destruction before they'd consented to helping the mere mortals below.

Morgan looked down in what could only be described as shame. Instead of directly answering his question, she chose to tell him a story:

"A thousand years ago by Earth time, there was still a small colony of us on this planet, aside from Merlin and myself. The illness that had spread among us millennia before was still present. We who were there had an immunity to it," her eyes flickered around the office, avoiding Daniel's eyes as much as possible, "But then some of us started getting sick. The virus had mutated to counteract our immunity."

She looked down at her hands as her voice broke, "Five of us were with child at the time."

Daniel's eyebrows rose in shock as he leaned forward, "What happened to them?"

Morgan turned to look at the empty doorway to Daniel's office, "The fetuses were extracted from the mothers, intact and unharmed, and placed in stasis on another planet before all but one of the parents ascended."

"Merlin," Daniel supplied the name of the "unlucky" one left behind.

She nodded, braving to look at her confidant again, "His work was too important. Once he had finished what he needed to on Earth, I took him to the lab you found him in."

Daniel closed his eyes and shook his head. He pinched the bridge of his nose, underneath his glasses, before asking the question gnawing at him, "What's this have to do with Cassie and her baby?" He had a sinking suspicion, but he needed to know -- now more than ever.

Morgan's eyes fell to her hands, nervously spinning the ring she wore as if it would give her strength. She cleared her throat as she said, "Cassandra's child ... is going to be the first Alteran born on this planet in nearly a millennia." She looked up and met Daniel's gaze with clear eyes, "Cassandra is the daughter of Merlin and the one you'd know as Nimue."

Vala was exiting the elevator on the sub-level of Daniel's lab, a skip in her step as she thought about forcing him away from his translations to go play with her. That is, until she heard him exclaim:

"Cassie's _what!_?!?"

Maybe playing could wait.

---


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: I just reread this story yesterday and I realized I made a pretty big error. At one point I have Sam saying that Cassie had been only gone three hours when she was kidnapped by the Trust previously, and at another I have Jack saying that she had been gone three weeks. My solution is this: both of them are wrong, she was gone for three days. I'll go back and fix that shortly.

And yes, I'm quite aware this is far behind schedule ... The cookies made me do it? Tehehe

* * *

Cassie did take a nap once released from the company of Parker and Hardison. She took a nap wrapped securely in the arms of Eliot Spencer (who was still refusing to let her out of eyesight and earshot). Truthfully, she was astounded at how much easier sleep came to her when she was lying next to a warm body. When she'd tried dating in college, it had never felt like this. The only other time human connection had made it easier to sleep had been when she had first come to Earth all those years ago and had refused to let Sam leave her alone.

Her body may have been at rest, however, as before her mind was taken to a once familiar place on a planet far, far away.

_She looked down and saw that again she was shown six months pregnant, in a yellow dress as she stood in what used to be her childhood kitchen._

_"You've grown up so beautifully," an unfamiliar female voice said behind her._

_Cassie turned sharply and came face to face with an unknown woman. Her hair was the color of gold shut tight in a dark box for years and unused to sunlight, like her skin, which seemed as if it would burn if exposed to the sun for any length of time. It was the eyes that gave her away, though._

_A hand went out as if to touch those eyes that she saw in the mirror every day. A nose that could have been her own ... _

_"Mother?" Cassie asked tentatively, her hand suspended in the air between them. A frown furrowed her brow, "Are you my mother?"_

_A nod was her answer. "My name is Nimue," a small smile flickered across her face, "But your father would call me Nim unless he was upset with me."_

_Cassie found the ability to make words extremely trying and difficult. Her throat constricted like a boa was tightening around her neck. "My father?" she choked out._

_Nimue looked distraught and led Cassie to the table, now devoid of the bowl and spoon Cassie had seen with Ganos Lal. "I'm so sorry, my darling. This wasn't what any of us wanted."_

_"What you wanted?" Cassie could feel tears springing to her eyes and blinked them back as she stared at the woman she never had the chance to know as a mother. "Didn't you want me?"_

_Nimue looked appalled, "Of course I wanted you! But I was sick," she brought her hands up to rest on Cassie's shoulders, "Putting you in stasis was the only way to save both of our lives. I _had_ to ascend. I made sure you were left in the care of good people, though. Every day of your life I was there to make sure you were as safe as I could make you."_

_"And my father?" Cassie asked, trying to come to grips with this new version of her life._

_She shook her head, "His work was much to important. I couldn't risk the outcome of that by telling him about you."_

_A tear fell down Cassie's face as she put the facts together. "Merlin?" she whispered._

_Nimue nodded, her own eyes bright with unshed tears, "Merlin."_

_They sat there in silence for who knows how long before Cassie shook her head and asked, "Why now? What's so important about _now_?"_

_Nimue looked down at Cassie's stomach. "Your child will be the first Alteran born on this planet in almost a thousand years, Cassandra.. It's vital that she survive."_

_"Vital? To whom?" Cassie wasn't sure she liked where this was going. She didn't want her daughter to have to be a superhero or world savior or anything like that. That was a burden she'd seen other bear and it was always too great to bear alone._

_"To the continued survival of this planet and this evolution of humans," Nimue replied with all the severity that truth inherently holds._

_"Why me?" Cassie demanded, "Why my child?"_

_Nimue rose quite suddenly, looking around as if someone would catch her and reprimand her for being there. Who knows? Perhaps they would have._

_She looked at her daughter frantically, "The man you have chosen has a good heart, Cassandra. You can trust him and he will not betray you. Or your child."_

_With one last pained look, Nimue said, "I always loved you," before everything around Cassie vanished and she was left in darkness._

She woke slowly, as if from a long, restful sleep, to find that Eliot wasn't by her side. Looking at the clock she discovered that somehow she'd managed to sleep straight through the night and it was now close to eight in the morning.

Cassie rubbed her eyes as she stretched like a cat, bringing her muscles back to life after so long without very much movement. There was something on her wrist that hadn't been there the day before. Cassie brought her hand to her face and examined it with a frown. While it didn't look like any sort of tracking device the SGC used, she supposed that could be accounted for in that Hardison didn't have access to that kind of technology. She mentally shrugged as she let her hand fall back to her side. An odd feeling of peace had filled her while she slept and spoke with her mother.

There were plenty of question she still had that remained unanswered, but she finally knew who she was, and could put a name and a face to her biological mother. A part of her had always known Hanka wasn't where she was meant to be. At least now she knew she was on the right track.

She got up and looked around the room Eliot had put her in the day before. There were some clothes piled on top of the dresser, so she got up to investigate.

A note was on top of them,

"Didn't know your size, so Sophie guessed. She says we'll go shopping later to buy you more after the meeting today. Go to Nate's when you wake up. - Eliot"

A small smile appeared on Cassie's face as she put the note down and investigated the clothes Sophie had chosen for her.

There were two pairs of jeans (designer labels that made Cassie's eyebrows raise as she realized how much each pair cost), one of which refused to accommodate the curves she'd inherited from her mother. The second pair fit well enough, and she was quite excited to find clean underwear folded neatly underneath them, leaving her to deal with the top Sophie had chosen. The sweater Sophie had paired with the jeans felt like cashmere, and when she looked at the label Cassie found herself pleasantly surprised that she was correct. The light green fabric had some button detailing on one arm and fit like a glove, leading Cassie to wonder if Sophie had superpowers that let her guess what size clothing others wore.

Either way, Cassie was glad to be surrounded by clean clothes, even if her bra smelled slightly of sweat from the past few days.

Running her fingers through her hair, Cassie slipped on her shoes and went off to find the others.

* * *

She didn't have to go very far to find Eliot -- he was still tinkering around with something or other in the living room.

As soon as he caught sight of her she lifted her arm with the tracking device on it and tilted her head to one side, "Afraid I'll make a break for it again? No bad guy worth their weight would be taken in by this."

Eliot smirked as he put down the book he'd been reading and picked up another, "Yes, but they'll be so busy trying to get it off that they'll hopefully forget to check behind your ear for the real tracking device."

Cassie reached up with a frown and felt behind her right ear. There was nothing there, but when she felt the back of her left ear there was the distinct imprint of something small and foreign. She frowned, "How'd you get it in without me waking up?"

"Novocain," he replied simply.

She blinked at him as her arm dropped. "I'm not sure how I feel about that."

Eliot checked his watch, "Let's go. Nate's waitin'."

As they headed out the door Cassie asked, "You guys got a 'job' to do?"

Eliot snorted at her sarcastic tone. "People always need savin'. There's a meet with the client today -- Hardison was workin' background on the mark for the past few days. After the meet we start the con."

"Sounds ..." she searched for the right word and came up empty.

"Illegal?" he offered.

"Fun," she countered. She shrugged as he opened the door to Nate's apartment, "Like you pick up where the law leaves off."

Eliot gave her an odd look at her statement as Parker popped her head in from the kitchen in Nate's apartment, "That's what Nate says."

Cassie snorted at that, "Then he's a smart man."

Parker came out from the kitchen fully, revealing a plate loaded down with a massive piece of the cake she had successfully completed yesterday.

"I'm a little surprised you didn't finish that yesterday," Cassie commented as Eliot moved into the kitchen.

Parker shrugged, looking as gleeful as the cat that ate the canary, "This is the last of it. It was too big and too good to eat in one night."

"Glad you think so," Cassie smiled as Nate came stumbling down the stairs that apparently led to his bedroom.

"Where's Sophie?" Nate asked the room in general as Eliot handed him a cup of coffee and went to plop down in one of the lounge chairs in his living room.

"Must be running late," Hardison mumbled into his computer screen, his fingers flying a mile a minute.

Nate sighed as he looked at his watch, "We have a meet in half an hour."

Parker's eyes lit up, "Ooh! I'll go if she doesn't get here."

Eliot look up at Nate, shaking his head, "Don't do it, Nate."

Parker attempted a pout and asked, "Please? You never let me meet the clients."

Nate let out a forced sigh and motioned with his free hand, "All right. Fine. If she's not here on time, you can come with me."

"Yay!"

* * *

Colonel Reynolds surveyed the barber shop around him. His team was scoping out the place, making sure there were no nasty surprises left for them to find. There had been a recording device left on one of the counters in the shop, but other than that there were no indications of a struggle or anything out of the ordinary. Just a pail of hair clippings and a broom -- as if Joe had whisked away in a hurry.

Reynolds growled low in his throat as he thought about what this all meant, especially the eye-witness testimony claiming a flash of light filled the shop before Joe disappeared. He pulled out his cell phone and hit 3 on the speed dial.

"O'Neill," the voice on the other end was clipped and sounded as if its owner was swiftly losing control over his temper.

"Sir, it's Reynolds," the other man replied. "I'm here in Spencer's barber shop. It doesn't look good, sir."

"What is it?"

"There was a recording device left. It looks like a melding of Asgard and Goa'uld technology, sir."

"And?"

Reynolds sighed. He hated giving his boss bad news, "It's Hera, sir. And the Trust. Apparently they think Joe is a big enough bargaining chip for us to give up Cassie."

"Why would she think that?" Jack mused aloud.

Reynolds cleared his throat before nervously saying, "Apparently Joe Spencer is Eliot Spencer's cousin."

"Shit."

* * *

"How's the prisoner?" the woman asked in the same cold, disinterested tone she always used.

Malichi bowed to the woman he served for the time, "He is still unconscious, my queen. However, that can be remedied quickly." He rose his hand, motioning to one of the humans behind him, but the unknown woman stopped him.

"No, let him sleep," she ordered. "I have no wish to listen to platitudes and screams at the moment. You can torture him later." She eyed the Goa'uld next to her with contempt, "How did you manage to escape the Tau'ri without being followed?"

Malichi grinned maliciously, "That was the easy part. The Jaffa I had with me created a wonderful distraction while I subdued my guards and made for the hanger." His eyes sparkled with humor at untold crimes he committed getting off the ship. "The Tau'ri are no match for our greatness, Hera."

Hera raised a flawless eyebrow as her eyes flashed, "Our greatness? You overstep your bounds, Malichi. I am the only thing of greatness in this pathetic little star system." She flexed her right hand, which was covered in the web of metal known as a hand device, "You would do well to remember that."

He bowed his head in submission while he seethed inwardly, "Of course, mistress."

* * *

A/N: I like ending scenes with the one word response. Shit is also one of my favorite ways to end a scene. ... Don't know why and don't really want to hazard a guess as I'm about to start class in four minutes. Ta!


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Real life is kicking my ass right now.

* * *

Cassie opened the refrigerator in Nate's apartment hoping to find something along the lines of eggs and unsalted butter, only to be confronted with a fridge full of nothing but orange soda in all shapes and sizes. She shut the door and leaned back to look at Hardison typing away on his computer with an orange soda by his elbow.

"You do know that there's not a shortage of orange soda at the grocery store, right?" she asked the hacker concernedly as she stood beside the fridge. "It's not like you can't stock other food in the fridge."

"Hey," Alec defended himself, "There's food in the other fridges. And have you _seen_ Sophie's fridge? Half of it's full of shoes!"

"That's no excuse." She shook her head and went to the door, calling over her shoulder toward where Eliot sat reading a book, "I'm going downstairs to the bar to get some yarn or something to keep my hands busy. Unless that's forbidden too."

Eliot didn't look up as he commanded, "Hardison, go get Cassie some yarn and knitting needles."

Hardison glared at the older man, "An' why d' I gat ta go?"

The hitter looked up at this and jovially said, "Because you still need your fingers to type, don't ya?"

Hardison started grumbling under his breath as he obediently picked up his jacket and made his way to the front door, calling over his shoulder, "What kind da ya want?"

Cassie's answer was immediate, "Worsted weight Paton's Bamboo Angora Baby Yarn - it has a pastel colored label. I'd like a few different colors for a baby blanket. I'll also need a crochet hook in size H, if you please."

Haridson stopped in his tracks and turned around on his heels to look at Cassie, "Really?"

She gave him a cool look and a smile as she responded, "It's a lot less complicated than buying a new computer or cell phone, Alec. It's _yarn_."

He looked utterly petrified by now, "But that means I gatta go ta the ... the old lady store."

Cassie rolled her eyes and muttered something in a language that sounded vaguely Arabic but wasn't anywhere close to a dialect Eliot knew. "You go in, you tell the nice lady behind the counter what you need, and then she goes and gets it. Simple, n'est pas?"

Hardison started grumbling again as he put on his jacket and made his way out the door, "It'd probably be a whole lost simpler if Eliot let you go with me. ... Or if you stopped speakin' so many freakin' languages."

As the door shut behind him, Cassie turned to Eliot with a slight shake of her head, "Three languages isn't much. You should hear Daniel when he gets excited about something." She frowned, "Or when he's really upset. He starts mixing languages the way you mix spices."

"How many does he know?" Eliot asked, turning the page in the riveting book he was "reading" as he pushed his glasses up on his nose a little further.

"Umm," Cassie mentally counted before saying, "Twenty-five Earth bound languages and ten alien dialects."

Eliot let out a low whistle in appreciation of that amount of knowledge. "And you?"

Cassie grinned, "Seven. You?"

He thought about all the languages he knew and mentally added them together, subtracting the ones that he shouldn't know. With a smirk he looked at her and said, "Five that I can tell you about."

She let out a laugh as her stomach started shifting in a very unpleasant manner. Looking around the apartment from her perch on the sofa she softly asked, "Where's the bathroom?" as she tried most desperately not to throw up all over Nate's living room.

Eliot seemed to hear the unsaid desperation in her voice as he pointed to the staircase. "Up the stairs and to the left. Can't miss it?"

"Thanks," Cassie replied as she leapt up the stairs three at a time.

"Want me to hold your hair back?" he offered even though her hair was a good six inches shorter than his own.

"No," she shouted from the bathroom a few seconds before the sounds of violent retching were heard through the open door.

Eliot frowned as he set his book down and searched the kitchen for a tea towel, which he proceeded to wet with cold water before grabbing a dry one and a cup of cold water as well. He made his way up the stairs and when the bathroom came into view his heart constricted at the sight he found.

Cassie was leaning with her head against the cool ceramic of the toilet and her eyes closed. Her face had lost all color and she looked positively frightful. "Please tell me this won't last the whole time," she begged him as he flushed the toilet and used the wet cloth to sooth her forehead.

"I don't know darlin'," he replied as he tried to hand her the cup of water.

She pushed him away weakly with a groan as she dropped her head so that she could once again empty her stomach of whatever it was that was irritating it.

Eliot was at a loss of what to do. Hangovers he could handle. Injuries he could handle. Morning sickness? His sister's pregnancy had been relatively free of actual vomiting. There had been plenty of nausea, but not so much of the sickness.

After the spell passed her wiped her forehead again with the wet cloth and offered her the water, which she took. She rinsed out her mouth and spit the water into the toilet before flushing it again and attempting to stand. Cassie was wobbly on her feet, so Eliot helped her stand so she wouldn't slip and fall.

"Don't go fallin' down now, darlin'," he teased her as she leaned heavily against him while attempting to regain her balance.

"Walking on two legs is hard, you know," she reminded him with a jab of the finger into his side and a slight smile. Given the circumstances it was the best she could manage.

He let out a bark of laughter as she took her weight off of him and leaned against the wall, allowing him to pick up the items he'd brought with them so Nate's bathroom wouldn't be left a complete mess. "Want to brush your teeth now or later?"

Cassie wrinkled her nose. "There wasn't anything in my stomach so I'll settle for mouth wash."

Another minute later and the pair was walking carefully down the curved staircase just as Hardison was walking back through the door.

"Cassie, no matter what you say I'm never goin' back into one of those stores again!" Hardison exclaimed as he threw down the reusable shopping bag he'd acquired (and filled to the brim) on his short trip. He wasn't really looking at anything as he kept up the rant, "Sixteen different shades! _Sixteen_, woman! And - and the sales clerk ..." he brought his fist up to his mouth as he kept on shifting his weight from one foot to the other in a nervous dance, "Don't make me go back there."

Cassie would have snorted if her stomach hadn't still been upset from the walk down the stairs. She was leaning heavily on Eliot as he walked her toward the sofa where Hardison had dumped the bag. "Looks like you brought the store with you," she said as she sat down with a thankful smile to the hitter. "What are you trying to do? Keep me busy for the next nine months?"

Hardison shuddered as he finally looked at her and noted her pale face and still damp hair, "What happened?" he asked, his mood changing from aggravated by the store attendant to concerned in a flash.

She waved him off as he started to hover, "Morning sickness. What's in the box?" she switched the subject to the small cardboard box Hardison still had in one hand.

The hacker smirked as he remembered the box that had just arrived that day at one of the P.O. Boxes he had in the city. "Hacker's delight," he replied as he started working on the shipping tape with his fingers.

"That anything like Turkish delight? Because I'm not sure my stomach could handle even smelling something like that right now," she teased him as he practically skipped over to the table where his hacking equipment was set up and sprawled out.

A thud was the only notice either was given that Eliot had moved and thrown a folded up Swiss Army knife at the table Hardison was working at. The hitter was in the kitchen making tea. Hardison looked between the knife, the kitchen, and Cassie, finally settling on the knife, "You're damn lucky you didn't break anything."

The knife didn't respond.

A few minutes later Eliot came out of the kitchen with two steaming cups, one of ginger mint tea in his hand, which he set on a coaster in front of Cassie before moving back to his favorite chair and his magazine with the other one, which probably held coffee. Within moments the trio was silently occupied with their own separate tasks: Eliot was keeping an ear on the apartment to make sure they weren't surprised while reading; Hardison was opening his package and taking out what looked like a touch screen cell phone; and Cassie was drinking her tea slowly while going through the plethora of yarn Hardison had picked up for her, finding a pack of crochet hooks ranging from E to K at the bottom of the bag, along with a selection of yarn that ranged from baby weight to bulky.

* * *

Hardison looked up from his new toy about ten minutes later. He'd been modifying it to work better than his hacker friend had been able to, and was ready to show it off. Cassie was busy working on something that looked like the start to a blanket, using the light blue yarn he'd picked out. Inwardly he preened that he hadn't messed up her request too badly. She looked good with her hands moving swiftly, hook in her right and the yarn in her left, making some sort of repeated set of movements he was having a hard time following. The thing she was making was getting bigger and she seemed content to stop every so often to sip her tea. It would be a shame to interrupt her when she was in a flow.

That left Eliot. He was just "reading" a magazine. Ha. He wasn't even wearing his reading glasses. Probably just watching Cassie crochet while pretending to read. With a smile Hardison got up and made his way to the hitter. "Hey, it's an ordinary cell phone, right?," he started, showing him the "phone." The only response he got was a disinterested look from Eliot as he picked up his own coffee mug and took a drink. Alec continued, undeterred, "It's not, man, it's a metal detector." He sat down beside Eliot and went into a more detailed explanation of what the device did and only after a while noticed that Eliot was still "reading" his magazine.

"Are you even listening?" Hardison asked, annoyed that he was being ignored by the older man.

"Yeah," Eliot nodded, glancing at the hacker and deciding to get back at him for interrupting his brief reprise.

"What did I say?" Hardison demanded in a childish tone.

"You were explaining how you're still a virgin," Eliot replied, unperturbed and with a completely straight face as he looked at that man sitting next to him.

Cassie let out a snort at Hardison's indignation as the door opened and Nate and Parker came back form their meeting with their new client. Cassie moved the bag of yarn from beside her on the sofa to the floor by her feet.

Nate was clearly irritated with Parker's performance and in the middle of his berrating her Eliot chimed in, "I told you not to take her."

"Yeah, well you were right," Nate replied, moving into the living room. "Where's Sophie?"

Eliot shrugged, "I don't know."

"Well we're not waiting," Nate said briskly as he sat down in the middle of the sofa, next to Cassie. He gave her a brief nod of acknowledgment as he motioned to Hardison and Eliot, "Come on. Let's go."

Hardison was suddenly up and in front of the monitors, talking. Cassie crocheted as she listened to what was being said by the hacker. "Daniel Fowler. Sixty-one, CEO FTP Fidelity ..."

As he went on, Cassie's crocheting became slower and slower until when Parker sat down on the arm of Eliot's chair she wasn't even pretending to crochet and was just listening and watching. Part of her wondered why they were letting her hear all of this, another part answered that it was probably some sort of test Nate had concocted to see how trustworthy she was.

"The FBI's very thorough, huh?" Eliot asked when Hardison was finished explaining how the man's assets were frozen and the house arrest. It seemed like a slap on the wrist compared to everything he'd done to people.

Hardison crossed his arms over his chest as he confidently (and a little patronizingly) said, "Extremely."

"So what'd they miss?" Parker asked before taking a bite of the cereal she'd gotten for herself. Cassie was very glad she was sitting so far away because the smell of the milk even at that distance made her stomach turn.

"Twenty million dollars," Hardison replied in a light tone, pleased that he'd found what the FBI couldn't. "They moved it off the books right before the warrants came down."

"Yeah, well, he knew the end was near and he was getting ready to bolt," Nate explained. Cassie almost wondered how he knew that, but then again, he was something of a profiler.

* * *

A/N: If you in any way wish to help ease my real life troubles, go to www (dot) daisybookworm (dot) etsy (dot) com. It's not my shop, but it is a friend of mine's and her troubles are greatly impacting my life right now due to a very long story that I don't want to get into.

I'll post more as soon as I can.


	18. Chapter 18

By the time Sophie came back the smell from the milk was driving Cassie bonkers.

While Nate inquired as to where Sophie was and the grifter got a tin of cookies from the cabinet, Cassie methodically put her crocheting things back in the bag and carefully stepping free of the living room furniture before dashing up the spiral staircase again just as Parker asked if Sophie had been with "the boyfriend."

Nate glanced at Cassie's retreating figure as he tried to push down the jealously that shot up at the mention of Sophie's boyfriend. Eliot very quickly followed after her and Nate turned to Hardison for an explanation.

"Morning sickness," the hacker said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She was pretty sick earlier, too. Seems like she's gonna have a rough start to it."

It wasn't very much longer than a few seconds before Eliot came bounding down the stairs again, looking for all the world like he'd been chased out with harsh words.

"Everything okay?" Nate asked, irritation creeping into his tone as the hitter sat down again in his seat. Eliot nodded once and Nate turned to Hardison, "Continue."

* * *

Up the stairs and to the right, just beside the toilet and the bathtub, Cassie sat, hugging her knees to her chest as silent tears rolled down her cheeks. The nausea had passed almost as soon as she'd been up the stairs, but when she looked at herself in the mirror she was hit with a sudden feeling of inadequacy and longing.

A part of her felt bad about snapping at Eliot when he showed up in the doorway. He was just trying to help, but he was only making things worse. All she wanted was to be left alone. Alone with her unborn baby and the giant hole in her heart.

So she sat and rocked gently as she cried. She felt a fantom embrace surround her and instinctively leaned into it, smelling the light fragrance of lavender that had been Janet's favorite. Oh, what'd she'd give just to be held in the arms of her mother again.

"Shhh, hush now," a soft voice whispered into her hair. "Everything will be all right, child. Hush."

Cassie forced her eyes open through the tears and looked up to see the face of Nimue, as revealed to her in her dream, surrounded by a glowing light instead of a body or more tangible form. Despite her ethereal qualities, however, the ascended being was still quite firm beneath Cassie's quivering form.

Tears overwhelmed the pregnant woman again as she choked out between silent sobs, "You left me. All alone. You let _her_ do this to me."

Nimue took the accusation with a sad, albeit straight, face. One of her glowing hands came up to brush Cassie's hair out of her face. "It was necessary, Cassandra. All of it was necessary."

Cassie flinched at that and shot out in a quiet anger so as not to alert those beneath them of her argument, "The destruction of the planet I grew up on was _necessary_? Nirrti destroyed everything and every_one_ I'd ever known. How is that necessary?"

"Nimue pulled back as well, settling herself seemingly over the edge of the bathtub as she replied with a voice that on a human would have been described as raspy. "It was necessary for you to survive. To come here, to this planet. Your offspring is necessary."

"Why?" Cassie demanded as she got to her feet, her tears drying up in anger and frustration. "What's so important about a genetically modified _clone_?"

"Cassandra," Nimue's eyes were hard as she looked into her daughter's, "If there is one thing to hold on to as truth without a doubt it's that your child is _not_ a clone."

Her daughter's eyes grew wide with fear, disgust, and any number of emotions that would be too difficult to dissect. "What are you talking about?" she demanded of her mother.

Nimue closed her eyes and sighed as she gave her head a small shake. It was almost as if she was sorry to have said something in the first place about the whole thing.

"Best to show you instead of tell you," she finally said after a very pregnant pause. She reached out as if to put her hands on Cassie's head but the mortal woman jerked back.

"Nothin' doin'," she growled. "You're not putting your hands in my head."

Nimue gave her a terse smile and held out one of her pale white hands. "Then take my hand and journey with me to my memories of the past."

Hesitantly Cassie did as instructed and was almost immediately hit with a strong sense of vertigo. Her eyes closed on their own and she was transported through Nimue's memories to a time and place most had forgotten...

* * *

She was cold. That was the first thing she processed as she watched the scene unfold. It was snowing outside the stone castle, creating quite a draft inside, no matter how good the fires were. She floated along like a specter, not of her own accord, and soon she found herself in a room high in the castle where a small group of women sat doing what appeared to be needlework.

"Curse this cold," one of the ladies mumbled. "If only Merlin would hurry and fix that contraption."

One of the other women giggled at her, "I'm surprised at you, Thespia. This babe of mine is acting like a portable heater. I'm comfortable for the first time in five months."

Cassie turned as the speaker's voice registered in her mind. There, bearing a very pregnant stomach, sat Morgan le Fay, otherwise known as Ganos Lal. Next to her sat Cassie's own mother (not noticeably with child) who was grinning along with the rest of them. She counted five women in all, each in a different stage of pregnancy.

"Oh my God," Cassie whispered under her breath even though the women in the memory couldn't hear her. "She had five babies to experiment on."

Nimue looked up from her needlework and straight at her grown daughter. "Six, actually." She motioned with her head to the woman who had spoken first, "She's carrying twins." The other women acted as if they hadn't heard the side conversation and continued to laugh amongst themselves.

A sudden wave of vertigo hit Cassie again and she had to close her eyes to help combat it. When her stomach and head settled down again, she opened her eyes to discover that her surroundings had changed. She was now in a lab that looked distinctly Ancient in design.

To her left stood stasis pods, and to her right was a set up that looked vaguely like an abortionist's chair. Her mother was on the chair with tears in her eyes. Ganos was holding her hand tightly, her own stomach already showing that she had recently undergone the same procedure. "It's the only way for them to survive, Nimue. You know that."

"It doesn't make it easier," came the raspy response. The physician finished extracting the embryo and put the partially grown life directly into a stasis pod filled with what was most likely a synthetically grown amniotic fluid.

"The embryo will survive," the woman acting as doctor told her as she put the stasis pod in its spot next to the other five that already had life in them.

"And so will we," promised Nimue to the containers. "We must hurry if we will beat this disease." She turned her head this way and that, clearly looking for someone who wasn't to be found. "What happened to -"

"He has already been put in stasis, dearest. I've put him somewhere safe," Ganos explained, knowing without being told who it was that Nimue wanted by her side.

The woman let one single tear fall down her cheek before bucking up and saying, "We must go."

There was no vertigo this time. No, Cassie instead felt the years pass after the Alterans ascended and the lab went into its own sort of stasis. Nothing came in, or went out. The unborn children lived in their pods, growing so slowly that in the thousand years it took for them to be discovered, only Ganos's male child was ready to be born.

And then Nirrti came. She came with a contingent of Jaffa bearing her mark and a few devices that were probably scientific in nature. The Goa'uld laughed horribly as she took in the six stasis pods and their occupants, coming to rest on each one in turn. With an evil grin she turned quickly on her First Prime. "Extract the pods and bring them to my laboratory. Make sure none of the fetuses are harmed. They are worth more than a thousand Jaffa."

"Yes, my lord," said the ever subservient First Prime with a bow. He started shouting out orders to his fellow Jaffa as Nirrti made her way to the console and brought up the data stored there on the children.

Time and space shifted again and Cassie watched with a sick stomach as Nirrti terminated the pregnancy of Cassie's birth mother and replaced the fetus with what would grow into Cassie.

"Where is the child?" Nirrti demanded after sending Cassie's mother back down to the surface of the planet.

"Here, my lord," said a female slave, bringing forth the male child Cassie recognized as belonging to Ganos.

Nirrti motioned for her to set the child on a table and strap him down. Moving over to her table of instruments, Nirrti picked up a syringe as the child started to wail from discomfort and fear. Her face was locked in a terrible and evil smirk as she put the syringe through the soft, pink skin and filled it up with his blood.

She had just set the blood in a different device when the first shot hit the shield on her mother ship. Nirrti's eyes glowed as she shouted, "Jaffa, kree!"

The babe was still wailing, so the nursemaid picked him up and hurried as quickly as possible back to her quarters to wait out the attack. Nirrti made her way to the bridge to command her troops.

The ship was taking a beating from the opposing side, their own weapons ineffective against the Asgard technology that assaulted them. Very soon, their shields were down and a white beam of light encompassed the ship. When it cleared, however, NIrrti and her Jaffa were still standing.

The nursemaid for the Alteran child came rushing in screaming a few minutes later. "The child, my lord," she said as she fell to her knees before her goddess. "He's gone. Disappeared into the white light."

Nirrti's eyes flashed, "What?"

A second later, two Jaffa ran in to report that the rest of the stasis pods had been removed from the ship during the battle as well.

Nirrti's eyes glowed again and she motioned with her hand to her guards. Her three guards were very quick to level their staff weapons at the "incompetent" fools who had allowed such important property to be stolen by the Asgard. Her eyes glowed again as the screams of the nursemaid were cut off with death.

* * *

With a few more breaths Cassie was back in her own body and staring at where her hands touched the ethereal ones of her mother. A few more shaky breaths and she found she could talk again.

"What happened to the others?" she whispered.

"The Asgard accelerated their growth and when they were viable, they were deposited in different parts of Earth. Nirrti used the DNA from the oldest child to sire your children."

"Children?" Cassie croaked out. "Half an hour ago it was child. Now it's children?"

"Their life forces are intertwined, as if two halves of the same whole," Nimue explained, "I couldn't feel it until we grasped hands."

Tears fell down Cassie's eyes and she shook her head slowly, "Oh no. No, no, no. This can't be happening."

"It can, and it is, dear one," Nimue said softly. Her eyes flickered toward the doorway before turning back to her daughter, "I must go now. Ganos will be back later to help you through a few things."

Cassie sat there numbly as her mother disappeared in a ball of light that flew out the closed window. Moments later there was a knock on the door and Sophie came in bearing a cup of cool water.

With a smile the grifter handed it to her as she sat down on the cold tile next to her. "How are you?" Sophie asked, her eyes taking in everything about Cassie's disheveled condition.

"Confused," Cassie replied honestly. "Angry. Confused, mostly. You?"

Sophie let out a snort, "Confused. Sad. Mostly sad. Anything I can do to help?"

Cassie shook her head and took a long drink of the water. Her stomach welcomed it with open arms and she realized just how hungry she was. "Tell me something, Sophie," Cassie asked as she dried her eyes, "How is it I can be nauseous one minute and starving the next?"

Sophie let out a laugh at that, "The mystery of pregnancy, Cassie. That's all."

"Yeah?" Cassie replied with a good natured grumble, "Well I find it annoying."

"Most do."

Once back downstairs, Cassie frowned as she noticed the absence of Alec and Eliot. "They went to go steal a school," Parker explained with a grin. "You feeling okay?"

"Peachy," Cassie replied as she made her way to the kitchen. "The real question is: Does Nate have quinoa?"

"Check the pantry," Nate answered from his spot on the sofa, looking over what had to be personnel files from the school. "I think Eliot put some in there last week."

"Thanks," Cassie replied, pushing aside the many cans of coffee and revealing the sought after grain.

Silence reigned as Cassie washed the grains off before putting them in a pot to boil the same way one would make rice. As she stirred and adjusted the temperature to make sure it didn't boil over, Nate busied himself with the papers and Sophie spoke quietly with Parker about something related to clothes it seemed. From what Cassie had seen of Parker's fashion sense, it was edgy and not in need of any help.

Her stomach began to roll again as she turned off the stove top and removed the quinoa from the hot pot so it wouldn't burn. She began searching through the refrigerator again and this time, after looking past the rows of orange soda, she found a few things to complete her quinoa salad: tomato, a little cilantro, balsamic vinaigrette, black olives, and half an onion.

After setting her find on the counter and putting the hot quinoa into the freezer to cool down, she was hit with a sudden wave of nausea that forced her to grab the edge of the counter and focus her attention on not throwing up in Nate's kitchen. Instead she focused on her breathing, in through her nose and out through her mouth just like Teal'c had taught her.

As she was doing this, she didn't see Nate move into the kitchen and retrieve something from the cabinet where his coffee was kept. In fact, she didn't even know he had moved until he shoved an herb under her nose.

"Try this," he said a little briskly, as if he was lowering himself by talking to her.

"Fennel?" Cassie asked with a frown.

"It helped Maggie," he explained a bit softer in tone.

Cassie glanced at Nate's face before taking the offered herb and eating it slowly. The black licorice taste was one of her favorites but she was a little surprised it actually did help in calming her stomach down. "Thanks," she said gently before going back to cutting the vegetables and getting her salad ready.

"Have you ever had quinoa salad?" she asked him as he moved back to his spot on the sofa.

"I'm not too big into the salad thing," Nate replied as he picked up a file he'd already read. "It's just one of those things Eliot put in there."

"Of course he did," Cassie replied blandly as she made quick work of the tomato, onion, and olives. She checked the quinoa in the freezer and found it just cold enough to work her magic. A few minutes more and it was ready. "Feel like trying some now?" she asked as she sprinkled a pinch of salt over the top.

Nate glanced up at her over the top of his reading material, "Sure. Why not?"

"Thanks for the confidence," Cassie replied dryly as she dished out four helpings of the concoction. She took two of them over to the table where Parker and Sophie were talking.

Parker poked the grains with her fork, frowning as it stuck to the metal utensil. "What is it?" she asked, almost as if it would bite her.

"Health food that tastes good," Cassie replied. "You need more than sugar, Parker."

Parker looked at her warily as she took a bite, her eyes never losing their scowl even as she swallowed and took another bite like a child forced to eat brussels sprouts. "Not bad," she finally said grudgingly.

Cassie turned her attention to Sophie and noticed the slight red under her eyes, like she'd been crying.

"I'm not hungry," Sophie said, "I had cookies."

Cassie rolled her eyes and pushed the bowl into her hands, "What's the matter with you people? Thief cannot con on sugar alone."

Nate snorted as he picked up his bowl and took a bite. "Try telling Hardison that."

"How do you steal a school anyway?" Cassie asked as she busied herself with filling her stomach with something that wouldn't make her hurl.

* * *

A/N: Well? I hope you liked it. This story seems to be dragging, but we're almost done. I have the sequel all planned and everything. This one will end with the defeat of Hera and her minions.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Holy Hannah! I can't believe I started this story a year ago! Time certainly does fly when you're not paying close attention.

* * *

After lunch Cassie went back to crocheting the baby blanket Hardison had so thoughtfully provided materials for while the thieves went back to the prep work they were doing for their job.

She frowned as she wrapped the yarn around her hook again and pulled another loop through. Her hands paused and felt the soft yarn gently, as if it might float away if she was too rough. It was a cream yarn she'd chosen to start with. Cream with little rainbow flecks throughout. It reminded her quite strongly of sprinkle cake but she wasn't sure her baby would mind.

Babies, she reminded herself. Two of them. A hand trailed to her stomach and she held her breath, as if trying to feel the fragile heartbeats that were just beginning to beat. Two bundles of cells. That's all they were at the moment. Placed inside her to await the day they'd be carried through her fallopian tubes and attached to the ready and waiting wall of her uterus. Without any conscious effort on Cassie's part.

When she thought of her unborn children and the people who were after them - who would use them if they could to better their own understanding ... her heart grew black with deadly intent toward any that would think to malign her children's growth and progress. They were hers, whether she asked for them or not, and they were going to stay that way.

Her hands were tense as she picked up the crocheting again, which was unfortunate for the poor acrylic crochet hook in her right hand. The pressure from her thumb and forefinger converged on a weak point in the design and it broke in two with a loud SNAP.

"Crap," Cassie muttered as she looked at both of the pieces now in her hand. She already had a good six inches up on the blanket and she was in no mood to unravel it all and start again with a different sized hook.

"What happened?" Parker asked as everyone's heads came up in surprise.

Cassie held up the two pieces for her to see, "My crochet hook snapped. That's the trouble with acrylic. I think I threw some rosewood ones in my bag before leaving." She eyed Nate warily as she carefully set her crocheting down beside her. "You're not going to tell Eliot to ground me if I go get it, are you?"

"Not if you're back in five minutes," he replied without looking up. "Otherwise I will have to report it to Eliot."

"You make it sound like he threatened you or something," Cassie said as she got up. "I'm just going down the hall. It's not like I'm even leaving the damn building."

"Eliot was rather forceful, Cassie," Sophie put in with her usual soft tones. "I wouldn't want to cross him on this."

Cassie rolled her eyes as she walked through the door. "For crying out loud," she murmured under her breath as she walked down the hall to Eliot's apartment. From her direction of movement the door was blocked by the frame and she couldn't see the abnormality until she was nearly face to ... well envelope, with it.

A rather daunting manilla envelope bearing her name was taped to Eliot's door.

Cassie's eyes flickered back down the hall to Nate's apartment before she tentatively reached up and removed the envelope from the door. Opening it she found a sight that enraged her more than just about anything else could have at the moment.

There was a note printed out in blood red ink on what looked like parchment. It read,

"There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.  
I don't know why she swallowed the fly.  
I guess she'll die."

Beneath it, Cassie could feel photography paper. She pulled the photos to the surface and her gut clenched at the sight captured on the frame.

It was a stark grey tiled room. Like the ones they use in the movies for interrogation rooms. It held four people. Three women, one man. Two of the women were tied up expertly to chairs and the man was hogtied at their feet. Cassie squinted as she tried to see the details of his face. He looked familiar.

With a sharp gasp she realized she was looking at Joe Spencer. As far as she knew he was no relation to Eliot, but he had definite ties to Jack and the rest of the SGC. She'd met him once back when Jack was heading up the SGC. He'd seemed like a harmless enough security breach.

One of the woman had striking red hair that Cassie was all too familiar with. Behind Tesa the fourth woman stood with a pain stick clutched like a riffle in her hands. If Cassie had any doubts about what she must do, they disappeared when she identified the gut-wrenching terror in Tesa's eyes. How they had gotten ahold of her, she didn't know. All Cassie knew was that she needed to get Tesa back.

The other prisoner was a mystery to Cassie. She was dark skinned, perhaps twenty-seven years old, and a complete and utter stranger. For all Cassie knew, she was just some unlucky passerby who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There was another picture underneath the first one. Cassie edged it out, afraid of what it would hold.

It was a shot of the waterfront from a fairly high vantage point. She didn't know the spot, but she was pretty sure she could find it easily enough. There was a post-it attached to the picture with directions. And a time limit.

"Sunset. Come alone or their horrors are just beginning."

Like they were bricks of naquadah, Cassie dropped the papers in her hands and looked down at her outfit. She was going to kick some evil bitch's ass in jeans and high heeled ankle boots? They weren't even stilettos!

With a growl of determination Cassie opened the door to Eliot's apartment and walked into the bedroom, hardly sparing a glance at her surroundings to make sure there were no other nasty surprises lurking about. Once in the bedroom she went straight to the pile of clothes Sophie had supplied. There was a gauzy white sundress in there that would create the perfect effect she was going for.

"What are you doing?" Ganos Lal said as Cassie fished out the dress.

"Going to stop this nonsense," Cassie replied as she shucked off her shoes, followed closely by her jeans and shirt. "What'd you think I was going to do?"

Ganos's eyes widened in irritation, "I wasn't expecting you to change your clothes first!"

Cassie put the stretchy dress on over her undergarments and sighed when she looked down and could still see her black bra poking forth. Luckily she'd been gifted with a natural immunity to gravity for certain body parts so she simply maneuvered her way out of the bra and added it to the pile of clothes at her feet.

"I can't be expected to kick ass wearing jeans and heels. I'm not Sam. Or Buffy."

"Buffy?" Ganos asked, confusion evident.

"The Vampire Slayer," Cassie explained as she got out her duffle bag and searched through it for the gladiator sandals she kept in there. They had been a present from Janet on her sixteenth birthday. "Most impractical wardrobe for fighting evil I've ever seen."

"And just what do you intend to do?" Ganos asked again as Cassie laced up her new footwear.

Cassie looked at Ganos Lal without any humor or sarcasm. She looked at her as a lioness about to go out to battle looks at her fellows. "I'm going to use the gifts my mothers gave me."

Within another forty seconds Cassie on her way out the window, one hand firmly gripping her duffle as she made her way stealthily from the building and into the early afternoon. One way or another, this thing was going to end.

She'd left the others in Nate's apartment four minutes prior.

Ganos shook her head as she followed Cassie through the city. "I didn't know there were any vampires left on this planet to slay."

* * *

Cassie made her way to the waterfront, finding the vantage point she was looking for easily enough with the directions given on the ransom note. Her "Spidey-sense" went haywire as soon as she was in sight of the building. It was crawling the naquadah in the form of Jaffa, and most likely at least one Goa'uld.

One hand went to cover her stomach, still flat and taut from years of martial arts and yoga. With twins growing inside her, she wondered how long it would be until that changed. Her body was already changing to facilitate the growth, it was only a matter of time before she began to show.

Once that happened, she knew she'd begin to slow down. Be easier to catch and control for someone with the means and the will. Determination filled her with a hot fire that burned away the chill of the autumn air. She would end this now. In such a way that no one else would come after her or her children again. Ever.

Her shoulder length hair whipped around her face violently as the dress whipped around her body and she began the walk toward the building where evil lay in wait.

"Search inside of you," Ganos said beside her, a disembodied voice that no one else could see. "Find the place where you keep your courage and your strength. The rest will come to you as you need it to."

Cassie nodded, her short locks whipping around her face violently as her determined stride kept moving her closer and closer to her destination. She was going to end this. She was going to take back her life so that she could live it. She was going to kill the Goa'uld who would make a host out of one of her children and a guinea pig out of the other.

* * *

Six minutes after Cassie had left their company, Nate sent Parker to go check on her and see what the hold up was. Although it was entirely possible that Cassie was bent over Eliot's toilet throwing up, he sincerely doubted it.

Parker rushed back into Nate's apartment less than thirty seconds after leaving it, in her hand a pile of papers and photos. "She's gone," Parker said irritatedly. She threw down the pile of photos on the coffee table before spinning around and searching through the closet beside Nate's door.

"What are you doing?" Nate asked as he looked through the pictures with a disinterested eye.

"Going after her," Parker replied matter-of-factly, pulling a gun from the closet and strapping it to her ankle.

"Oh my God," Sophie whispered as she picked up one of the pictures. She showed it to Nate, "It's Tesa. Cassie went after Tesa."

Nate nodded, "Do we know who the other prisoners are?"

"What other prisoners?" Eliot asked as he and Hardison walked back in, still in costume from their task of stealing a school.

"How'd it go?" Nate asked first.

Hardison frowned even as he nodded, "We own it." He picked up one of the other pictures and swore. "Tiana." The hacker glared at the others as he asked, "What the hell happened?"

"Cassie's gone," Parker said. "She went after them."

Now it was Eliot's turn to swear as he turned toward the others. "Do we know where she went?"

Sophie held up the picture of the waterfront. "They wrote directions on the back for her to follow."

"Then let's go!" Eliot demanded, half way down the hall with Parker by the time the other three managed to get their heads on straight enough to race after them.

* * *

There were so many symbiotes swarming the building Cassie had been led to that it felt like her head was on fire. For a moment she wondered if it was how Teal'c felt when he was with his Jaffa family, or if the Jaffa were immune to such ... inconveniences.

Regardless, she knew she had to press forward and forward Cassie went. With a deep breath she searched deep inside herself for her protective instincts and pulled up something she hoped would act as a force field around her and her babies as she walked into the lion's den.

The first few Jaffa inside the warehouse attempted to jump her, but she pushed them back with the wave of her hand. Their bodies flew across the room and landed with a sickening crunch on the opposite walls. The next few Jaffa she passed raised their weapons as if to fire upon her. With a cold sort of detachment Cassie yanked their weapons from their hands and scattered them around the room with the power of a blink.

An evil, cold chuckle filled the air as the woman behind the recent attacks on Cassie's person became visible, her henchman Malichi by her side. "Your rediscovery of yourself will prove most useful to my experiments," Hera said with a malicious smile on her blood red lips.

"I wouldn't count on it," Cassie said, locking eyes with the false god even as her peripheral vision located the three hostages in the background. Rage and determination filled Cassie with a fire she could barely begin to control as her excess of emotion caused her newfound powers to surge, pushing every Jaffa and Goa'uld (aside from Hera) into the surrounding walls.

Hera tilted her head back and laughed at the display as she and Cassie started to circle each other. "Oh what a host you'd have made, Cassandra Fraiser."

Images started popping into Cassie's head about ways to deal with the threat before her. One of particular irony struck her as the perfect course of action. Hera opened her mouth to say something else but Cassie cut her off, "You stupid, stupid bitch. You want to know what your first mistake was? Coming at me in my own home. Want to know your next mistakes?" She motioned with her hand to the captives now behind her, "Kidnapping innocent bystanders." Cassie tried to bring out every ounce of bravery Sam kept on telling her she had as she kept at it.

"You think you scare me?" Cassie asked her, eyes still locked with soulless orbs, "I've witnessed the take down of over two dozen so called 'gods' in the past thirteen years. I've lost _three_ mothers and found out that I've been implanted with pre-fertalized eggs by the monster who pretended to be a goddess.

"You came after my friends, and friends of my friends who had nothing to do with this," Cassie reminded her with a spit of disgust as she found what she had been looking for. "So now, I'm coming after you."

The Alteran tilted her head to one side with what could only be described as a homicidal smirk on her face. "There you are."

Tesa, Joe, and Tiana watched with eyes wide in horror as Cassie, dressed in her white gauze sundress and face devoid of makeup and adornment, lifted her hands and pulled at the air in a motion similar to one someone would use for pulling a rope.

Hera seized up, her own eyes wide in horror and shock as she was raised a foot off the concrete ground of the warehouse. Her mouth opened involuntarily and right from the center of her perfectly painted lips leapt the Goa'uld symbiote that had started all the trouble.

The asexual being shrieked as it flew at Cassie, but she had faster reflexes and caught it with both hands as the former host's body fell limply to the floor.

For the second time in less than a week SG-1 (including back up, this time) burst through the doors just a few moments after Cassie had defeated her enemies.

She didn't see them, but they saw her, as she took a bite out of the center of the symbiote's body and threw the now silent husk to the ground. The chef in her contemplated the flavors she was assaulted with as the naquadah rich blood hit her taste buds.

After she swallowed, Cassie shrugged to herself before turning around and seeing her audience. She spotted Mitchell, Teal'c and Daniel first and waved at them shyly.

"Please tell me you didn't just eat a Goa'uld symbiote?" Mitchell asked after ordering some men to untie the hostages while others got around to securing their prisoners.

"Just a bite," Cassie replied with a shrug. "Daniel, you said it was a fairly common occurrence in other worlds."

"And?" Daniel asked, kicking the dead symbiote with his boot.

She shrugged again, "Add a little tabasco and it wouldn't be half bad."

* * *

A/N: Just one or two more chapters to do and then this chapter in the tale is over.

Oh, and I'd like to apologize for all of the plot holes that have riddled this story. For the most part they're minor, but I've just re-read it and noticed so many of them that I'll go back and fix them after this is all over. Nothing major is changing, just making things more consistent.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: It's been a long, long journey. Thank you for bearing with me.

* * *

Cassie's head started swimming not long after the SG teams arrived. One moment Daniel was telling her something about how they were taking down the Trust cells responsible for the attacks and the next she was having trouble concentrating on his face, let alone his words.

"Cass?" Daniel asked worriedly when he noticed the look on her face. "Are you okay?"

"I - I need to sit down," Cassie whispered breathlessly a split second before she collapsed in a heap, unconscious. Teal'c thankfully still had sharp reflexes from his time as the First Prime of Apophis and caught her before she hit the floor.

Daniel started to shout for a medic as the Jaffa carried her outside so the sun could warm her suddenly cold skin. Dr. Lam looked up from where she was checking Joe Spencer over for injuries when he nodded to her and told her to go. She ran after the others as fast as her heeled shoes could take her.

Tesa watched them go from her place beside a medic who was checking her over for serious injuries. The baker swatted him away and got up to follow where Teal'c took Cassie. "I'm fine," she told the medic as she rose on shaky feet.

"You are _not_ fine," the medic replied as he caught her when she lost her balance. He knew he couldn't convince this woman to stay still so he did the next best thing and wrapped her arm around his shoulder and wrapped one of his own around her waist and helped her.

Outside, they found a small group that had formed around the unconscious woman as they waited for her to wake up. She counted Teal'c and Mitchell, as well as the thief she remembered being named Eliot and a few others she couldn't name.

"Is she alright?" the redhead asked when she was within hearing distance.

The woman examining her patient looked up briefly before getting back to work, "She'll be fine. Looks like exhaustion and low blood sugar."

"What?" Eliot asked irritatedly, his feet pacing of their own accord, back and forth the length of Cassie's prone body. "That's impossible. She ate less than two hours ago." He turned slightly and said something so low no one could hear it, one hand going up to his right ear briefly.

Tesa dropped to her knees beside her college roommate, shaking off the help of the medic who'd followed her, one hand moving to shake her awake. "Cassie?" she whispered hoarsely. "Cassie?"

"Tes?" Cassie replied in an equally soft whisper with her eyes still closed, her head rolled to the side, burrowing into Teal'c's arms the way she would burrow into a pillow. "Take notes for me in class, 'kay? I think I drank too much last night."

"It's not a hangover, Cassie," Tesa replied, tears prickling her eyes as all the emotions she'd been put through the past twelve hours came to the front of her mind. "Please wake up."

Cassie's eyes fluttered open as if on command. She turned and gave Tesa a small smile which turned into a frown as she looked at her face covered in bruises and cuts, and her matted and bloody hair. Shakily the pregnant woman brought up a hand to smooth away the tears falling from Tesa's bright green eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner," Cassie said loud enough to draw the attention of the others who had been caught up in their discussion of her welfare.

Tesa brought her own hands up to cover Cassie's as she leaned into her embrace. "It's my fault. I should have seen them coming."

Cassie shook her head as she let her hand fall weakly. "They took you to get to me."

"Yeah, well, it worked," Eliot snapped at her even as his concerned and very angry face entered her field of vision. "What the hell were you thinking?" he snapped at her as he gestured to all their surroundings.

Her tired hazel eyes met his in a soulful gaze as she silently apologized for scaring him and he silently let her. Before she could verbally respond, however, one of the soldiers came up and interrupted.

"Sir," he said, addressing Mitchell, "Dr. Jackson and Vala have something they want you to see."

"What is it?" Cassie asked as Dr. Lam pushed the straw from a juice box into her mouth and made her drink. Cassie swatted at the good doctor and with a little help from Teal'c sat up to drink some of the apple juice.

The unknown soldier looked down toward her, "The host is awake."

"She was asleep?" Cassie asked with a frown as she put the half-empty juice box on the ground beside her.

"Unconscious, ma'am. She sustained a bump on her head from the fall," he replied with a straight face.

Cassie frowned as she turned to Teal'c, "I didn't mean to drop her so hard after the symbiote was out."

Teal'c gave her a tender look few others ever saw and patted her arm, "All will be well, Cassandra Fraiser. Do not fear."

Cassie looked at him with wide eyes that held a tint of self loathing Teal'c knew all too well. "Will you check on her? Please, Teal'c?"

Teal'c nodded, "Very well." He rose carefully, making sure that Cassie was stably situated before he followed Mitchell and the other soldier to where the former host was waiting.

Eliot waited until Teal'c was out of hearing before he sent Cassie a scathing glare. "What the hell were you thinking? Are you _trying_ to get yourself or the baby killed?"

A tear fell down Cassie's flushed cheek and her eyes flickered to Tesa before moving to where the medics were fixing up the other hostages. Tesa took that as her turn to escape what was sure to be a row of epic proportions. As she hobbled away with the help of the medic charged with her welfare, Cassie looked down at her hands. She busied herself with drinking the rest of the apple juice as she tried to stop the tears from falling.

The hitter eased himself down beside Cassie on the cold ground, pulling her into an embrace as his anger left him. As Cassie returned his embrace she could feel him shaking slightly under the nerve endings of her skin.

"I - I didn't mean to scare you, Eliot. I wasn't going to do it. But then I saw Tesa and Joe ..." Cassie said as she lay her head down upon his shoulder, the tears coming to her eyes again so fast she couldn't force them back. "I just didn't know what else to do."

As much as he wanted to, Eliot couldn't fault her for that. "Well it was stupid to go in without backup," he told her firmly, his hand tightening on her waist as he thought about what might have happened to the baby or to her. His own emotions frightened him so much ...

"I'm fine," she reaffirmed as she nuzzled closer to him and her eyes drifted closed in exhaustion. She yawned as she wrapped her arms around his waist and said, "The babies are fine, too. Peachy keen. Nothin' to worry about ..." she trailed off into sleep even as Eliot's brain stopped working properly.

"_Babies_?" he whispered sharply.

"I wouldn't have let anything happen to them, you know," a voice said from his other side. Eliot turned his head and saw Ganos Lal sitting beside him cross legged on the ground.

Eliot shook his head at the "Ascended being" and glared at her even as Cassie moaned lightly in her sleep and hugged him like a teddy bear when he accidentally shifted away from her. "Because they're important, right?"

"More than you know, Eliot Spencer," the woman said with a slight smile. She turned to him and her eyes flickered over how Cassie had wrapped herself around him in her sleep. "Those children are the key."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Key to what?" he whispered.

"The survival of this planet and evolution of humanity," Ganos replied rather matter-of-factly, the same way she had told Cassie a few days before. She looked up at the afternoon sun and her look became distant. "This planet ... has been so important. And it's role isn't over yet. Neither is Cassandra's. This side effect of her using her powers will wear off eventually. Her mind and body have to get used to using the parts of them that have been dormant for a long time."

She turned back to look Eliot in the eye, "She will need protecting. All three of them will. Can you do that?"

"Protect them?" Eliot frowned, his throat suddenly very dry and his heart dead in his chest. He swallowed a few times, trying to regain the ability to talk. After a few tries that made him look like a fish out of water he finally added, "From what?"

Her eyes were determined and completely serious, "You know from what. And from who."

Eliot opened his mouth to respond but his vocal cords seemed frozen. Instinct fought against his frozen muscle and his eyes widened as he realized it was some sort of magic for lack of a better word. He couldn't have made a sound no matter how hard he tried, even if he screamed his throat raw.

Ganos brought herself up to her full sitting height and maintained eye contact with Eliot as she formally asked, "Will you accept the task of protector to this woman and her offspring, Eliot Spencer?"

As if not of his own will, Eliot nodded, still unable to speak.

The woman inclined her head with a slight smile playing on her lips. She reached out a hand to touch his forehead and said, "Then accept and embrace the dormant power you've always had and will need."

A surge of heat filled up Eliot as if his pores started soaking up heat and what felt like raw strength. He opened his mouth to ask what she just did to him when she smiled and vanished. He felt his vocal chords loosen and soften back to their normal state as he grunted at the woman who was no longer present.

Eliot shook Cassie awake, determined to tell her what had just happened with the apparently crazy Ganos Lal. Even as her eyes fluttered open with a groan though, he felt the memory of his conversation with the Alteran slipping from his memory.

"Wh's't?" Cassie asked groggily, barely lifting her head from his shoulder to look at him, as if it weighted twice as much as it did.

Eliot glared as he tried to hold onto the memory of the conversation, but the harder he tried the further it slipped away from him. After a few seconds he shook his head in exacerbation and said the first thing on his mind, "When did you find out it's babies and not baby?"

Cassie frowned sleepily as she tried to make her groggy brain think. "My mom told me. This morning ... after I yelled at you."

"I thought your mom was dead?" Eliot asked, now even more confused than he had been before.

Cassie shrugged, "Different mom. Nimue ascended so she's still alive. She's the one who ... conceived me."

Eliot pondered this for a few moments before Cassie asked, "Can I go back to sleep now?"

"Yeah, go ahead. I"ll wake you when it's time to move," Eliot promised, his head still trying to wrap itself around all the new information Cassie had given him, even as he forgot that Ganos had even spoken with him.

* * *

Nate had Hardison by the arm as they looked down at the commotion going on beneath them.

The four thieves were standing on top of a warehouse nearby where Cassie had been sent. Eliot had made the decision to call in the SGC after he'd seen the pictures, and he'd met them outside about fifteen minutes ago.

The reason Nate had such a firm grip on Hardison's shoulder was this:

Hardison had just asked Eliot if all was clear down on the ground and the hitter had replied that the people held hostage by the megalomaniac were all very badly beaten and Cassie had passed out from exhaustion.

"My _sister's_ down there, Nate," Hardison repeated for what was probably the fiftieth time in the past half an hour. "And she's hurt," Hardison's eyes were glued on the people moving on the ground beneath them, searching for the tell-tale mop of brown curls.

"Yeah, well there's also about twenty armed Air Force officers down there who'd be more than happy to arrest you," Nate replied. "They're all wild cards. We don't know them."

"But we know Cassie," Parker said as she turned to look Nate in the eye, "And Cassie knows them."

"How well do we really know Cassie?" Nate prodded her, his face set in the perfect poker face as his barb hit its mark and Parker flinched.

"Well enough for Eliot to feel comfortable going down there," Sophie reminded them all, pointing to where their hitter was standing with a group of the others. "They're obviously not arresting him."

The four stayed that way, stalemated against each other until Eliot's voice reached them through their coms, "All clear. Y'all can come on down now."

Hardison didn't wait for Nate to clear him to leave. He yanked his arm out of the older man's grasp and ran toward the fire escape on the side of the building. Parker was only a few steps behind him.

Nate swore under his breath as he watched the two run toward the Air Force contingent on the ground. He watched as they were stopped by two guards and then waved through by someone further in - most likely a civilian judging by the brown leather jacket he was wearing.

Sophie stepped up next to him and whispered in his ear, "Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same thing if that was your sister down there."

He leaned his head back a little and looked her in the eye before saying, "Doesn't mean it's smart."

* * *

Cassie was jostled awake when Eliot tried to disentangle himself so he could put Cassie in the back of the car Daniel had pointed out to him.

"Wha's goin' on?" she mumbled sleepily as she reattached herself to Eliot like a leach.

"Just movin' you to the car. Thought it'd be more comfortable.

She forced her eyes opened like a reluctant child and looked around. WHen she saw Parker rushing toward her she yawned and dropped her feet to the ground. She rubbed her eyes to help clear away the grittiness just before Parker enveloped her in a bear hug.

Cassie patted Parker's shoulder awkwardly because her arms were mushed together with her torso and she had limited mobility of her hands. "Parker," Cassie squeaked out. "Can't. Breath."

"Oh," Parker immediately let go of Cassie and took a step back, her eyes narrowing into a glare, "You weren't supposed to do that."

"Do what?" Cassie tilted her head to one side, trying to get a gauge on what Parker was berating her for.

"Leave by yourself," Parker's frown intensified. "You scared us."

A gust of wind blew over them, causing Cassie to shiver in her barely protected body. She'd forgotten it was fall when she'd chosen the gauzy sundress and sandals for her showdown with Hera. She wrapped her arms around her waist in an attempt to conserve body heat as she replied, "I - I didn't mean to, Parker. I'm sorry."

Parker looked down at her shoes as another gust of wind blew in from the ocean. Cassie shivered again as a warm jacket fell over her shoulders. She looked up at Eliot and gave him a small smile in thanks.

The three stood there silently for a few more moments, each wrapped in their own thoughts in the sea of commotion around them. A male voice interrupted their contemplations.

"There you are, Mr. Spencer," Daniel said a he rushed up with a folder in his hands. He handed it to Eliot along with a pen, "You need to sign these."

"What is it?" Eliot asked as he flipped open the unmarked folder to reveal the pages of text within.

"You're standard non-disclosure agreement," the archeologist explained. "I'm sure you know the drill by now."

Eliot gave him a very serious glare as he replied, "I don't know what you're talking about." He opened the pen and signed his name in the spots indicated on the papers before handing everything back to Daniel with a silent frown.

Sophie and Nate joined the group at that moment. Nate berated Parker for running off like that, but cut himself off when he saw the somber mood of the group. Daniel handed Nate and Sophie the two other folders he hand in hand, full of papers that said the U.S. government would hunt them down and make them pay if they so much as breathed a word of the existence of the Stargate program to anyone.

The grifter was the first to finish signing. She handed the papers to Daniel and he flipped them open. With a fleeting smile he asked, "Is this your real name?"

"Yes," she replied without hesitation as Daniel flipped the folder closed again. "I hope you'll be discreet about it."

"Don't worry, Sophie," Cassie reassured her, "They know how to be discreet when it serves their purposes."

"So what happens now?" Nate asked as he handed his non-disclosure agreement back to Daniel, along with the ballpoint pen.

"Now ... you go help the helpless," Cassie replied, removing Eliot's jacket and giving it back to him with a nod of thanks. "And try to move on."

Parker hugged Cassie again, not voicing any of the halting, unfamiliar goodbyes she heard others say so often. As they pulled back the alien smiled softly at the thief and nodded once in understanding.

"I'm going to miss you," Sophie was next with her own warm hug of farewell.

"I'll be around," Cassie replied as she reciprocated the embrace, taking comfort from the honesty that hid underneath all the masks Sophie wore.

Nate opted for shaking her hand after Sophie let her go. "Stay out of trouble," he cautioned her.

"Likewise," she replied, her eyes holding a hint of mischief. She moved to take a step toward Daniel and almost fell as her legs decided to stop cooperating with her. Her arm went out and grabbed hold of Eliot in order to stop her fall.

"Still a little shaky, apparently," she attempted humor with a forced laugh.

"Here," Eliot said, pulling her into his side and putting one of his arms around her waist, "Let me help. No good if you fall and hurt yourself or the babies."

"Babies?" the other four said in unison.

"It's a long story," Cassie dismissed them all as Eliot helped her walk toward the car where Teal'c was waiting.

Daniel and the others fell in step behind the two as they started walking away. Of course, no one got more than a few yards before Alec overtook them with his sister.

Both had tears running down their faces as Hardison enveloped Cassie in a bear hug without saying a word. Cassie hugged him back. "I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner," she whispered.

"You showed up just in time," Tiana replied for her brother as Alec was still unable to speak.

Cassie disentangled herself from the hacker and looked at the woman before her. Even with the bruises that were starting to darken, and the cuts and scraps that seemed to cover her, she was beautiful. Like a vision of an African goddess with her hair still stylized in a small afro with a silk scarf being worn as a headband (torn and dirty but bearing no blood). Her body covered in Western clothes that looked right and wrong at the same time.

The Alteran brought her hand out as if to touch Tiana's cheek, but stopped a few centimeters away from making contact with her skin. "This is all my fault," Cassie whispered. "Forgive me?"

Tiana took her hand in both of hers, warm and full of life, as she smiled tenderly, "There is nothing to forgive, sister. You already destroyed the things that did this to me."

Daniel came up and took Cassie under his arm with a nudge. "Come on. Sam's waiting, we need to go."

Reluctantly Cassie left the group of civilians and made her way with Daniel to the car where the others now waited (minus Vala, who opted to travel with the former host). Mitchell opened the door for her but before she got in, Cassie turned around and locked eyes with Eliot. Almost without thinking she ran back to him and embraced him as you would a lover who was going off to war.

After some minutes, when breathing became difficult, they stopped kissing and he walked her back to the car, helping her get in as the others took their places.

As the Leverage team watched the car drive away Nate leaned close to Eliot and asked, "You didn't ... you know -?"

"What? Trade cornbread recipes?" Eliot replied with much snark. He let out a breath and much calmer he shook his head, "We didn't sleep together, if that's what you're wondering, Nate. She's more important than that."

* * *

It wasn't until they were halfway to Colorado that Cassie let the tears start to fall. She had her duffle bag shoved under the seat in front of her, and for the life of her she couldn't stop thinking about the snow globe Eliot had saved from destruction. She kept her tears as silent as possible, not wanting to disturb Daniel's reading, Mitchell's sleeping or Teal'c's ... staring. At her.

The fasten seatbelt sign was off so Cassie unfastened hers and swiftly walked to the bathroom at the rear of the commercial plane.

As she cried her heart out over the sink, something moved inside her. Two somethings as a matter of fact. Her sobbing quieted until the only sign of it was the tears that continued to run down her cheeks at a constant pace. One hand went to her stomach as the other braced her body on the edge of the counter.

Her children were in there, their little heartbeats fluttering around, as if they were trying to comfort her. She smiled a watery smile as her consciousness traveled deep inside her and interacted with her unborn children.

Somehow, in that moment she knew, everything was going to be just fine.

* * *

A/N: All in favor of a sequel say "Aye." I've planted a few hints in this one about what that would entail. I wonder if you caught them ... tehe


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